Worms Synagogue

Worms (German pronunciation: [vɔʁms] (listen)) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about 60 km (40 mi) south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 82,000 inhabitants as of 2015.A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It was the capital of the Kingdom of the Burgundians in the early fifth century, hence is the scene of the medieval legends referring to this period, notably the first part of the Nibelungenlied. Worms has been a Roman Catholic bishopric since at least 614, and was an important palatinate of Charlemagne. Worms Cathedral is one of the imperial cathedrals and among the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany. Worms prospered in the High Middle Ages as an imperial free city. Among more than a hundred imperial diets held at Worms, the Diet of 1521 (commonly known as the Diet of Worms) ended with the Edict of Worms, in which Martin Luther was declared a heretic. Worms is also one of the historical ShUM-cities as a cultural center of Jewish life in Europe during the Middle Ages. Its Jewish sites (along with those in Speyer and Mainz) were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.Today, the city is an industrial centre and is famed as the origin of Liebfraumilch wine. Its other industries include chemicals, metal goods, and fodder.

The Wormsgau (Latin: pagus wormatiensis) was a medieval county in the East Frankish (German) stem duchy of Franconia, comprising the surroundings of the city of Worms and further territories on the left bank of the Upper Rhine river. Together with the neighbouring Nahegau and Speyergau, it belonged to the central Rhenish Franconian possessions of the Imperial Salian dynasty.

The Nibelungen Museum Worms in Worms, Germany, started in 2001 and is dedicated to the Nibelungensage. The museum integrates a part of the historical city wall of Worms as well as two towers from the 12th century. The audiovisual permanent exhibition examines the mythical character of the Nibelungensage. The premises of the museum are also used for cultural events, talks and symposiums.

The Holy Trinity Church (German: Dreifaltigkeitskirche), full name Reformation Memorial Church of the Holy Trinity (German: Reformations-Gedächtniskirche zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit) is the largest Protestant church in Worms. The baroque hall building is centrally located on the market square of the city and is now under conservation.

The Bischofshof palace (German: Schloss Bischofshof or English: Bishop's Court or English: Bishop's Palace) was a former Baroque-style palace in Worms, Germany. It was located next to the Worms Cathedral, on its northern side, on the current Schlossplatz (English: Palace Square)). It served as the main residence of the prince-bishops of Worms. In the Middle Ages, the first palace was originally constructed as a Kaiserpfalz, a temporary seat of the Holy Roman Emperor. This building became later the court of the prince-bishop of Worms. It was destroyed during the Nine Years' War in 1689. Between 1719 and 1725, it was rebuilt as a baroque-style palace with involvement of the architect Balthasar Neumann. It was elongated structure with side wings, featuring a central Avant-corps facing the palace square. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the episcopal palace was destroyed in 1794. In the 19th century, a patrician built the so-called Heyl-Schlösschen, which remains till today. From the Bischofshof palace nothing remains except a vaulted cellar in the Heyl garden.

The Luther Monument (German: Lutherdenkmal) is a group of statues that was erected in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, to commemorate the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. It was designed and partly made by Ernst Rietschel, and unveiled on 25 June 1868. The monument includes a group of bronze statues on stone plinths centred on a statue of Luther, surrounded by statues of related individuals and allegorical statues representing related towns. The elements are arranged in the shape of a castle, reflecting Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" ("Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" in German). It is one of the largest Luther Monuments, and shaped views of the reformer. Copies of the central Luther statue are located in Europe and the United States, including the Luther Monument in Washington, D.C. (1884).

St Peter's Cathedral (German: Wormser Dom) is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral in Worms, southern Germany. The cathedral is located on the highest point of the inner city of Worms and is the most important building of the Romanesque style in Worms. It is closely associated with Bishop Burchard and the high point of Worms' history in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was the seat of the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Worms until its extinction in 1802, during German mediatisation. After the extinction of the bishopric, it was reduced in status to that of a parish church; however, it was bestowed the title of minor basilica in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Most of the cathedral was finished by 1181, however the west choir and the vaulting were built in the 13th century, the elaborate south portal was added in the 14th century, and the central dome has been rebuilt. Great events associated with the cathedral include the nomination of Leo IX as Pope in 1048, the Concordat of Worms which ended the Investiture controversy in 1122, the marriage of Emperor Frederick II to Isabella of England in 1235 and the Diet of Worms in 1521, during which Martin Luther was condemned as a heretic.

The Magnuskirche is a small church in Worms, Germany, to the south of Worms Cathedral. It is the city's smallest church. Archaeological evidence and its dedication (probably identifiable with Magnus of Füssen, a Carolingian saint) suggest it originated in the 8th century - part of that building survives in the nave's north wall. Its first mention in the written record dates to 1141. It was enlarged many times between the 10th and 15th centuries and during that era served as the nearby Andreasstift's parish church. It is the oldest Lutheran church in south-west Germany, since Martin Luther stayed in it and preached in it during the 1520 Diet of Worms. After the severe damage to the city in 1689 during the Nine Years' War, the church was restored in the Baroque style in 1756. It was destroyed by Allied bombing on 21 February 1945 and restored again in 1953.

Worms Hauptbahnhof is, along with Worms Pfeddersheim station, one of two operational passenger stations in the Rhenish Hesse city of Worms, Germany. The station with its pedestrian underpass is also an essential link between the eastern and the western parts of central Worms. Every day it is used by about 15,000 people.

The Andreasstift was a building complex in Worms, Germany, now housing Worms City Museum. It is located near Worms Cathedral and the Magnuskirche. The community it housed was founded before 1000 as a mountain-top community but was moved to a new building within Worms' city walls in 1020 by order of bishop Burchard of Worms. He also ordered the building of the cathedral and of two churches dedicated to St Paul and St Martin. He supported the election of his pupil Henry II and thus became sole ruler of Worms. The complex now centres on the former Andreaskirche, founded between 1180 and 1200 as a three-aisled Romanesque church. The church's north door shows similarities to the west choir of Worms Cathedral, suggesting it was built at the same time. Two wings of its cloister survive and are now used as a lapidarium. The church's windows were replaced with Gothic style ones after a fire in 1200. The humanist Peter Anton von Clapis became its provost in 1470. The church and monastery were destroyed in 1689 during the Nine Years' War and only restored in 1761. The final provost was Clemens August von Stefne. In 1800 the monastery and church were secularized and desanctified by Napoleon I, seeing use as a barracks, a hay barn, a fruit yard, a fire station and the base for the town's official carriages. It was restored again from 1928 to 1930 thanks to a legacy of 200,000 gold marks from Baron Maximilian von Heyl, the younger brother of the Worms industrialist Cornelius Wilhelm von Heyl. The area was occupied by France from November 1918 onwards. The end of the occupation was marked on 1 July 1930 by a procession from the city museum (then in the Paulusstift) to the Andreasstift - this also marked the museum's transfer to the Andreasstift. The complex was almost completely destroyed by Allied air raids in the final months of World War II. It was restored between 1945 and 1947 during the second French occupation of the area and again in 2007.

Worms City Museum (German - Museum der Stadt Worms or Stadtmuseum Worms) is a city museum in Worms, Germany, housed in the former Andreasstift complex. Its lapidarium is housed in the former cloister.

The Jewish Cemetery in Worms or Heiliger Sand, in Worms, Germany, is usually called the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe, although the Jewish burials in the Jewish sections of the Roman catacombs predate it by a millennium. The Jewish community of Worms was established by the early eleventh century, and the oldest tombstone still legible dates from 1058/59. The cemetery was closed in 1911, when a new cemetery was inaugurated. Some family burials continued until the late 1930s. The older part still contains about 1,300 tombstones, while the newer part (on the wall of the former city fortifications, acquired after 1689) contains more than 1,200. The cemetery is protected and cared for by the city of Worms, the Jewish community of Mainz-Worms, and the Landesdenkmalamt of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Salomon L. Steinheim-Institute for German-Jewish History at the University of Duisburg-Essen has been documenting and researching the site since 2005. Because of its cultural importance and preservation, the Jewish Cemetery (along with other medieval Jewish sites in Worms, Speyer, and Mainz) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.