Description: Around 7km to the south of Quedlinburg is the fairly unremarkable, small town of Gernrode. However, with the Stiftskirche St. Cyriakus (Collegiate Church), this town has one of the best examples of Ottonian architecture in Germany. A church of this size cannot hide in a town of less than 5,000 and, although we could see the spires from afar, driving up to the church without map or signs proved surprisingly complicated.
The church was begun in 959 A.D. and work progressed rapidly as Margrave Gero could already be buried in front of the high altar six year later. The bones of St Cyriacus rest in the east choir but after the church got hold of the remains of St. Metronius, a new west choir was added in the early 12th century. As wealth and indeed political power moved away from the region soon after, the church remained pure Romanesque and unspoiled by later architectural styles.
A rather interesting feature of this church is that the east and west choirs are not in line. This was not planned or indeed an architectural or building error. Ground movements through the centuries literally moved the two ends of the buildings apart. The nave was damaged, not surprisingly, in the process and restored during the 19th century. (Similar ground movements in Mexico left the Santa Veracruz church visibly skewed but amazingly, it has not fallen down yet and is still in daily use!)
The church is a triple-nave basilica with a typical Romanesque flat ceiling. It has an upper gallery as is typical in Ottonian Romanesque. In the southern nave is the Heiliges Grab, the oldest surviving copy in Germany of the Holy Tomb in Jerusalem. It dates from 1050-1075.
Some Byzantine elements are attributed to the presence in nearby Quedlinburg of Theophanu, a Byzantine princess who was the wife of German King Otto II and actually ruled the empire with considerable success as regent for her son Otto III. German kings were always elected and succession was not necessarily hereditary. While at war in Italy, Otto II managed to get his son Otto III elected joint ruler. Wasting no time, the three-year old toddler traveled back to Germany and was crowned German King by the Archbishop of Cologne on Christmas Day, 983. Unbeknown to anyone in Germany, Otto II had died a few days earlier in Italy and Germany found itself with a toddler on the throne. A royal battle followed but Otto III kept his crown although he had to wait until 996 to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. He died in 1002, aged 22.
The church is a firm fixture on the Romanikstraße (Romanesque Road), www.romanikstrasse.de, a holiday route that runs through the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in a figure 8.
The church is open daily from April to October from 9 am to 5 pm; Sundays only after church services (Catholic at 9am and Lutheran at 10:30).
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