Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [415]
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
Worms’ basic layout dates from the Roman period. Several streets are named for Nibelungenlied characters, such as Kriemhild, Siegfried and Hagen.
From the Hauptbahnhof and adjacent bus station, pedestrianised Wilhelm-Leuschner-Strasse leads 500m southeast to Lutherplatz, on the northwest edge of the half-oval-shaped Altstadt. From there, it’s 150m southeast to pedestrianised Kämmererstrasse, the old city’s main commercial thoroughfare, and 300m south to the Dom. A plane-tree-shaded promenade runs along the Rhine about 800m east of the Dom.
Return to beginning of chapter
Information
There are ATMs located inside the Hauptbahnhof, along Wilhelm-Leuschner-Strasse and at the Volksbank diagonally across from the tourist office.
Internet Café (Neumarkt 5; per hr €1; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 11.30am-10pm Sun) Around the corner from the Dom.
Internet und Telefonhaus (Hardtgasse 7; per hr €1; 10am-11.30pm Mon-Sat, 11am-11.30pm Sun) Half a block west of Kämmererstrasse, facing Woolworth.
Post office (Kaiserpassage, Am Römischen Kaiser) A block east of Kämmererstrasse’s Kaufhof department store.
TeleBistro (Kämmererstrasse 50; per hr €1; 9.30am-11pm) Internet access.
Tourist office ( 250 45; www.worms.de; Neumarkt 14; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat, Sun & holidays Apr-Oct, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Nov-Mar) Sells events tickets and has a walking-tour brochure in English.
Return to beginning of chapter
Sights
KAISERDOM
Worms’ skyline, such as it is, is dominated by the four towers and two domes of the magnificent Dom St Peter und St Paul ( 9am-5.45pm Apr-Oct, 10am-4.45pm Nov-Mar, closed during Sun morning Mass), built in the 11th and 12th centuries in the late-Romanesque style. Inside, the lofty dimensions impress as much as the lavish, canopied high altar (1742) in the east choir, designed by the baroque master Balthasar Neumann. In the south transept, a scale model shows the enormity of the original complex. Nearby stairs lead down to the stuffy crypt, which holds the stone sarcophagi of several members of the Salian dynasty of Holy Roman emperors.
In the Nibelungenlied, the Kaiserportal (open only during services) on the north side was the setting of a fierce quarrel between the Burgundian queens Kriemhild and Brünhild about who had the right to enter the Dom first. Trivial as it may seem, this little interchange ultimately led to their kingdom’s downfall. Today, the main entrance is through the Gothic Südportal (south portal; 1300), richly decorated with biblical figures.
JEWISH SITES
Starting in the 900s, the Jewish community of Worms – known as Varmaiza in medieval Jewish texts – was centred on the northeast corner of the Altstadt (now a mostly Turkish quarter) along Judengasse and its side streets. Before 1933, 1100 Jews lived in the city; a Jewish community – now numbering 130 souls, almost all of them from the former USSR – was re-established in the late 1990s.
Worms’ oldest synagogue, founded in 1034, was destroyed by the Nazis but in 1961 a new Alte Synagoge (Synagogenplatz; admission free; 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-5pm Apr-Oct, 10am-noon & 2-4pm Nov-Mar, closed to visitors every 2nd Sat morning) rose from its ashes. Men are asked to cover their heads. Around the side, stone steps lead down to a rare Romanesque Mikwe (ritual bath; admission free; same as Alte Synagoge) from the 1100s.
Behind the synagogue is the modern Raschi-Haus, built on the 14th-century foundations of a community wedding hall. It is named after Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi), a brilliant 11th-century Talmudic scholar who studied in Worms. Inside is the Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum; 853 4707; Hintere Judengasse 6; adult/student €1.50/0.80; 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-5pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, to 4.30pm Nov-Mar), which tells the history of the local Jewish community. The singed Torah fragments were burnt in 1938 on Reichspogromnacht