Germany Guide
Saxony
The Dom
Opening time: daily: April– Oct 9am–6pm; Nov– March 10am–4pm
Price: €2.50
The Dom merges into the Albrechtsburg to update an early medieval structure into High Gothic – the landmark lattice spires were added in the early 1900s. The finest artwork is in the Fürtstenkapelle, tacked onto the end of the nave as a mausoleum for the Wettin household, so protecting the original carved portal. German Renaissance heroes Cranach and especially Dürer are the influences for the ducal bronzes set into the floor, the latter especially evident in that of Duke George the Bearded, who gets a side chapel to himself. Italian artists added the enchanting Renaissance stucco in the 1670s. Other artwork of note is the rood screen and astonishingly advanced statues of Emperor Otto I and his wife Adelheid in the nave, both sculpted by Naumberg masters (c.1260). Inevitably, the Baroque crucifix is of local porcelain, created by court master-artist Johann Joachim Kaendler.