Mainz, Germany: Market Square (Marktplatz)
After wrapping up our museum tour, it's time to see the Market Square, which is on top of my to-see list. From the museum our destination is about a 10-minute walk (without distractions or detours). But it's our first time here so we wanted to see everything along the way. I feel like we stopped more than we walked.
Begging your indulgence, but I even photograph a bird feeder that caters to a lot of different types of birds.
St. Christoph's Church was an early Gothic parish church that was originally built between 1240 and 1330. It was almost entirely destroyed during the WW II. Unlike other churches, it was not rebuilt, its ruins were preserved to symbolize the destruction of the city. It now serves as a war memorial for the victims of WW II. Aside from being a memorial, it remains as an active chapel today. The church is believed to be where Gutenberg (yes him, he's big around these parts) was baptized.
St. Joseph's Chapel
I don't know if this is part of St. Joseph's Chapel, but I was attracted to this building.
After tourist season, the streets are ours.
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Looks like we're almost there.
The square directly in front of Mainz Cathedral (post coming) is called Market Square, or Marktplatz. The square holds weekly market and of course the traditional Christmas Market. It is a bustling square that features the Renaissance-style Marktbrunnen fountain and the monolithic Heunensäule pillar, and the historic 18th century houses.
A mainstays in squares.
The houses bordering Marktplatz (Market Square) feature stunning Renaissance and Baroque facades. Although they exude medieval charm, the vast majority were meticulously reconstructed after being destroyed during World War II, utilizing historical blueprints and paintings.
The Marktbrunnen, one of Germany's oldest and most significant Renaissance-style fountain, was constructed in 1526. This red sandstone fountain was donated to the city by Archbishop Albrecht of Brandenburg. It is notable for its intricate Renaissance carvings and was proactiveley protected during World War II, surviving the bombings largely intact.
Standing directly in front of the Cathedral, the Heunensäule (Haystack Column) is a 16-ton, 6.4-meter high historic sandstone column erected in 1975 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Mainz Cathedral. It features a bronze base designed by Gernot Rumpf depicting key moments in the city's history. What surprised me about this column is that it is one of 42 columns created around 1000 AD for the reconstruction of the Mainz Cathedral after a fire in 1009. It was never used and sat in a quarry in Miltenberg for centuries.
This is Mainz Cathedral, a separate post is coming up.
A little sunset hue.
Begging your indulgence, but I even photograph a bird feeder that caters to a lot of different types of birds.
St. Christoph's Church was an early Gothic parish church that was originally built between 1240 and 1330. It was almost entirely destroyed during the WW II. Unlike other churches, it was not rebuilt, its ruins were preserved to symbolize the destruction of the city. It now serves as a war memorial for the victims of WW II. Aside from being a memorial, it remains as an active chapel today. The church is believed to be where Gutenberg (yes him, he's big around these parts) was baptized.
St. Joseph's Chapel
I don't know if this is part of St. Joseph's Chapel, but I was attracted to this building.
After tourist season, the streets are ours.
\
Looks like we're almost there.
The square directly in front of Mainz Cathedral (post coming) is called Market Square, or Marktplatz. The square holds weekly market and of course the traditional Christmas Market. It is a bustling square that features the Renaissance-style Marktbrunnen fountain and the monolithic Heunensäule pillar, and the historic 18th century houses.
A mainstays in squares.
The houses bordering Marktplatz (Market Square) feature stunning Renaissance and Baroque facades. Although they exude medieval charm, the vast majority were meticulously reconstructed after being destroyed during World War II, utilizing historical blueprints and paintings.
The Marktbrunnen, one of Germany's oldest and most significant Renaissance-style fountain, was constructed in 1526. This red sandstone fountain was donated to the city by Archbishop Albrecht of Brandenburg. It is notable for its intricate Renaissance carvings and was proactiveley protected during World War II, surviving the bombings largely intact.
Standing directly in front of the Cathedral, the Heunensäule (Haystack Column) is a 16-ton, 6.4-meter high historic sandstone column erected in 1975 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Mainz Cathedral. It features a bronze base designed by Gernot Rumpf depicting key moments in the city's history. What surprised me about this column is that it is one of 42 columns created around 1000 AD for the reconstruction of the Mainz Cathedral after a fire in 1009. It was never used and sat in a quarry in Miltenberg for centuries.
This is Mainz Cathedral, a separate post is coming up.
A little sunset hue.
I can see the old age of the church, good that it's still here, hopefully it's being used now too, have a nice week.
ReplyDeleteI like that they used the remains of the beautiful old church as a war memorial.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting and historic place.
ReplyDelete...the remains of a historic church are a fitting memorial to the horror's of war, Peace!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots.
ReplyDeleteThe first one is "an insect hotel" not a bird feeder. The birds must be after insects.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification. Someone said it's a bird feeder and we just ran with it since we haven't seen anything like it before. Thanks.
DeleteGreat architecture everywhere.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful tour of Mainz! I especially enjoyed the mix of history, architecture, and those little details along the walk, including the bird feeder.
ReplyDeleteFascinating bird feeder ~ unique and lovely photos of your time in Mainz '`
ReplyDeleteHugs ^_^
Beautiful captures of the historic city!
ReplyDeleteAmazing place, Loved your tour photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by my blog
ReplyDeleteMuch lov
Mainz is to far away for us... therefore I enjoyed reading very much. It's a wonderful town.
ReplyDeleteGreetings by Heidrun
I have never been off the North American continent and have never been around buildings that old. I wondered about all the intact buildings and they really did a good job in designing the rebuilding to look as much as possible like the originals. I had never seen a bird feeder like that - part of it looked more like tubes designed to encourage mason bees to move in here in North America). But birds definitely would be attracted to the insects during their breeding seasons.
ReplyDelete