Paris to Swiss Alps: Speyer on Our Own before Lunch (4/1/2017)

Saturday, April 1, 2017 (continued)
After the guided walking tour, we had the rest of the day free in Speyer. For the 45 minutes before lunch on board the Viking Hild, we decided to explore inside the Speyer Cathedral.

But first, outside the west side of the cathedral was
a makeshift shrine for a young man who was apparently fatally
stabbed by an acquaintance during an argument

The west side of the cathedral has an outer narthex
or porch (this is the south side) making the cathedral
134m/439' in length and 38m/124' wide; with a statue
of Rudolf I von Hapsburg, who is buried here (KSS)

One usually enters a church or cathedral from the "darker" west side, so that you are leaving behind illness and evil and being guided toward the light of Christ, the east.

Paintings (1846-1853) by Josef Schwarzmann and
Johannes Schraudolph (24 scenes of the Life of the Virgin)

Romanesque arches and massive columns;
the nave contains 12 columns for the 12 apostles,
and six vaults representing the six days of Creation; the
seventh day is represented by the cupola in the apse (KSS)

A peek into the St Afra Chapel (all the crucifixion
crosses in Catholic churches are covered during Lent,
to be uncovered on Easter Sunday)

One of many tombstones taken from the
flooring to be preserved upright (KSS)

Apse in the east end (KSS)

We paid the €4 each to go in the crypt of the cathedral, the largest crypt in Germany, and the largest Romanesque crypt in the world. I asked about a Senior-Ermäßigung/Senior discount, but there was none!

A pull to open the window (KSS)

Baptismal font in the crypt chapel, thought to be
the oldest Romanesque font north fo the Alps

Piéta relief carving (KSS)

Alternating, bands of red and yellow sandstone (KSS)

Relief (c. 1489) of four of the emperors buried here (KSS)

Relief (c. 1480) of the four other emperors buried here (KSS)

All the Salian emperors and two empresses are buried in the Speyer Cathedral crypt, and members of the Hohenstaufen, Habsburg and Nassauer dynasties also chose to be buried here. This makes it the most important burial place of kings in emperors in Germany.

Tomb of Bishop Konrad III of Scharfenberg (died 1224) (KSS)

Tomb of Emperor Henry V (died 1125) (KSS)

Tombs of the Bishops of the Speyer Diocese from 11-13C
(one tomb per century?!); the crypt was excavated in the 20th
century, so there was some re-arranging of bones

Tombs across the back L to R of Emperor Henry IV (1106), Emperor
Henry III (1056), Emperor Konrad II (1039), Empress Gisela (1043),
Empress Bertha (1087), and across the front L to R of King Adolph of
Nassau (1298), King Albert of Austria (1308), King Rudolf of Habsburg
(1291), Empress Beatrix (1184) with her daughter Agnes (1184),
and King Philip of Swabia (1208)

Back up in the cathedral proper.

Baptistery with  Pascal/Easter candle,
font and altar (KSS)

An ornate votive candle holder

Leaving the cathedral, there was no need
to tell us not to let the door slam! (Due to the cushion
rigged up between the doors)

Sculpture group representing the Franco-Salian emperors,
in the Cathedral Garden

Spider playground

Public art on the way back to the Viking Hild.

Speyerer Kopf/Speyer Head (2000)
by Franz Bernhard (KSS)

Giro-Porta/Spiral Gate (undated) by Franz Müller-Steinfurth

Rental bikes (KSS)

Trifolium/Three Leaves (1993) by Olaf Bergmann (KSS)

Kleingolf/Minigolf (KSS)

Looks like a spot to slot in flood walls
along Schillerweg

The Jehovah Witnesses have the same literature stands around the world!

Ship mast welcome to Speyer

Busy beeer garden!

Back to the ship in time for lunch: Cream of "Vegetables" Soup with garlic bread, Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad, crisp parsley, and cranberry marmalade, then dessert of Warm Sugar Waffle with vanilla ice cream and morello cherry compote.

Next: Speyer on Our Own after Lunch.