Speyer

At 830 a group of 9 Ghostriders assembled at reception for a guided walk of the town of Speyer. Our guide was Frank, a lovely and knowledgeable man whose family had lived in Speyer since the 1870’s. We learned that the area was settled by the Romans over 2000 years ago although the town was first referred to as Speyer in about 600AD when the formally nomadic Franconians settled. In the 11th Century a king of the Holy Roman Empire decided to build “the biggest and greatest Cathedral” in Europe and so work started of the Speyer Dom. Subsequent kings made additions also, although the work was essentially finished by the early 12th Century when the local line of Kings ended. The Cathedral was subsequently severely damaged by Louis 14th on one of his rampages when he burned down most of the town and not really restored until Emperor Napoleon got involved in the early 19th Century. However, he rebuilt in a Baroque style and once he had buggered off the town fathers decided that they couldn’t stand it and re-did the whole western façade in the neo-Romanesque style to better match the original sections. We were also shown the wine bowl which is at the front of the Dom and is filled on special religious occasions (takes 1580L) and served to the people of the town. The next stop was the Jewish Courtyard which has the ruins of the synagogue which was originally built in the late 11th Century (but destroyed with the rest of the town by the aforementioned Louis). The most amazing future of the courtyard however was the ritual baths (which survived the destruction). Located 10m underground the baths were where the members of the synagogue would perform their ritual cleansing – for women after child birth and monthly, for men every Shabbat evening. The baths are 900years old and simply amazing – the Jews were invited to Speyer in the 11th century for their financial acumen but the community (at the time almost 8000 in number) was totally destroyed in 1940 when all members were arrested and taken first to an internment camp and then to a concentration camp – none survived. It was a late night but so totally fascinatingRead more