Dom zu Magdeburg | Magdeburg Cathedral in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt | Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

The Magdeburg Cathedral has been the symbol of the city for over 800 years. It was the first Gothic cathedral on German soil, and is the burial place of the founder of the Holy Roman Empire, Otto the Great, and his first wife, queen Editha.

It is the most important religious building in the eastern federal states and the episcopal church of the Evangelical Church in central Germany.

The cathedral of Otto the Great probably did not stand long after it began construction in 955. The great basilica may have collapsed as early as 982 for unexplained reasons. Magdeburg’s third archbishop, Tagino, began immediately after taking office in 1004 with the construction of a new, not so large cathedral just south of the ruin, the place where today’s cathedral stands. Another cruciform, four-tower Romanesque basilica was created, this time with an expansive crypt under the choir in the east. A lot of material from the old church was taken over in this second cathedral in Magdeburg, as were the high tombs of Otto and Editha. The structure underwent several changes and expansions in the following 200 years. 

On April 15, 1207, Albrecht, Count of Käfernburg became the 18th Archbishop of Magdeburg to head the Archdiocese. Five days later, on Good Friday of that year, a fire broke out at noon, which burnt down the 200-year-old Romanesque cathedral. Without hesitation, Albrecht ordered the remaining walls to be torn down, and just five months later, in September 1207, he laid the foundation stone for today’s Gothic cathedral, the presumably third in Magdeburg