Essen Minster

Essen Cathedral or Essen Minster (Essener Münster, since 1958 also Essener Dom) is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Essen, the "Diocese of the Ruhr", founded in 1958. The church, dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian and the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands on the Burgplatz in the centre of the city of Essen.

History

The cathedral was formerly the collegiate church of Essen Abbey, founded in about 845 by Altfrid, Bishop of Hildesheim, around which the city of Essen grew up. The present building, which was reconstructed after its destruction in World War II, is a Gothic hall church, built after 1275 in light-coloured sandstone. The octagonal westwork and the crypt are survivors of the Ottonian pre-Romanesque building that once stood here. To the north of the church is a cloister that once served the abbey.

Essen Minster is noted for its treasury (Domschatz), which among other treasures contains the Golden Madonna, the oldest fully sculptural figure of Mary north of the Alps.

The first bishop of Essen, Cardinal Hengsbach, was buried here in 1991.

References

Leonhard Küppers: Das Essener Münster. Fredebeul & Koenen, Essen 1963.
Klaus Lange: Der gotische Neubau der Essener Stiftskirche, in: Reform – Reformation -Säkularisation. Frauenstifte in Krisenzeiten. Klartext Verlag Essen 2004
Klaus Lange: Die Krypta der Essener Stiftskirche. in: Essen und die sächsischen Frauenstifte im Frühmittelalter. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2003, ISBN 3-89861-238-4.
Klaus Lange: Der Westbau des Essener Doms. Architektur und Herrschaft in ottonischer Zeit, Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-40206-248-8.
Albert Rinken: Die Glocken des Münsters und der Anbetungskirche in: Münster am Hellweg 1949, S. 95ff.
Josef Schueben: Das Geläut der Münsterkirche in: Münster am Hellweg 1956, S. 16ff.
Walter Zimmermann: Das Münster zu Essen. Düsseldorf 1956.