Switzerland Guide
Ostschweiz and Liechtenstein
Münster zu Allerheiligen
Schaffhausen's lofty Münster zu Allerheiligen (All Saints' Minster) is the focus of the Old Town. The first church on the site dated from 1049, but was replaced in 1103 by the building which still stands today. The beautifully restored Romanesque tower gives a hint of the interior, in which twelve huge columns of Rorschach sandstone line the austere nave. Beside the cathedral, the Romanesque-Gothic cloister is the largest in Switzerland, a lovely broad walkway circling the Junkernfriedhof (noblemen's cemetery). In the cathedral courtyard sits the huge Schiller Bell, cast in 1486; the German poet Friedrich Schiller never set foot in Schaffhausen, but was inspired to compose his Song of the Clock by Goethe's record of this bell's Latin inscription: vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango ("I call on the living, lament the dead, shatter the lightning"). Just beyond is an atmospheric little herb garden.
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am– noon & 2–5pm
Website: www.muenster-schaffhausen.ch