St. Petri Dom in Bremen

The first church structure which can be verified on the site of St. Peter's Cathedral in Bremen was a timber church on on a high point overlooking the Weser River. The church was built about 789 in conjunction with the creation of the Diocese of Bremen. Just three years later Saxons attacked and burned Bremen and its tiny timber cathedral. No trace of it remains. St. Peter's was built as the cathedral church of local sandstone in several stages. From 1035 to 1043 the church was in the process of being rebuilt and enlarged, but in 1041 most of Bremen including the cathedral was destroyed by a terrible fire. Bishop Adalbrand ordered the building rebuilt in 1042, but died before it could be completed. Most of the rebuilding was done from 1043 to 1072. The cathedral was rebuilt as a pillared basilica with rounded Romanesque style arches and a flat timber ceiling. Two stubby, flat-topped towers were added to the west front. By the 1880s the citizens of Bremen decided that the cathedral should be restored to its medieval glory. Money was raised for the restoration of the building and work began in 1888. Reconstruction continued off and on until 1901 when the church reopened. The towers were raised to their present height and completed in 1892. The interior of the church was restored in the Gothic style making it difficult to see the changes in style that occurred over time.

Women who reach their thirtieth birthday unmarried go to polish the cathedral doorknobs in the company of friends and family until they are released by the kiss of a young man.
The church was struck by a fire bomb during an Allied air raid in 1943 and damaged repeatedly until 1945. The structure was so severely damaged that it was feared that the building would totally collapse. However the ruins were stabilized and the church was reconstructed by 1950. From 1972 to 1981 the church was once again restored to the High Gothic form of the 1901 restoration.

- the masoria papers