Discover Worms: Cathedral, SchUM Sites and Art
Accommodation in Worms
Worms can be explored through a wide variety of traces: Romanesque architecture, Jewish heritage, art collections and a land-art installation on the banks of the Rhine each make their own mark. Remains of the medieval city wall can be found again and again around the city centre. The themes range from religious and political heritage to garden art and changing art forms—so you can tailor your stay to the interests that appeal to you most.
Architecture, Luther and festivals
Worms Cathedral of St Peter, together with the cathedrals in Mainz and Speyer, is one of the greatest achievements of Romanesque church architecture. It is also associated with the Diet of Worms in 1521, where Martin Luther appeared before Emperor Charles V. Another striking facet of the city’s history is the Luther Monument, created by Ernst Rietschel and unveiled on 25 June 1868. After the international Reformation Monument in Geneva, it is the world’s largest Reformation monument. The cathedral also provides the main backdrop for the annual Nibelungen Festival.
The collegiate church of St Paul is another example of Romanesque architecture. It is a three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica, built by Bishop Burchard from 1002 on the site of the Salian ancestral castle. Together with the cathedral and the Luther Monument, it offers different ways to explore the history of architecture and the Reformation: from a church building to a monument and the cathedral’s connection with a significant historical event.
Jewish heritage and art collections
The UNESCO World Heritage Site “ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz – Jewish Heritage for the World” includes the synagogue, the women’s section, other extensions and parts of today’s Rashi House within the synagogue and mikveh complex. The Jewish Cemetery of Heiliger Sand is also part of the World Heritage Site. The Jewish Museum in Rashi House presents a wide-ranging collection on the religion and everyday life of the Jewish community in Worms from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.
Groups can book a one-hour combined tour of the Jewish Museum, synagogue and mikveh; it is intended for a maximum of ten people. If you plan to take this tour, check the latest visitor information before your trip. This will allow you to factor the tour into your plans without losing sight of its duration or group size.
The Heylshof Museum in Worms offers a different focus on collections. Its significant collection includes paintings, sculpture and drawings, as well as applied arts, particularly glass and ceramics. Cornelius Wilhelm and Sophie von Heyl assembled the works mainly after their wedding in 1867. The different sections offer a change of pace between fine art and decorative arts, with the breadth of the collection at the heart of the experience.
City wall, palace park and land art
The 10.5-hectare palace park of Herrnsheim Palace is in the Herrnsheim district of Worms and is considered the most significant English landscape garden in Rhineland-Palatinate. A different artistic highlight is Kriemhild’s Rose Garden on the banks of the Rhine in Worms: this walk-through land-art installation changes with the seasons. The artist Eichfelder conceived it in reference to the epic poem Rose Garden of Worms, written around 1230. Garden art and land art thus provide their own themes alongside the city’s historic buildings and collections.
The medieval city wall is also part of the experience of finding your way around Worms: remains can be found again and again around the city centre. It offers another perspective on the city’s history, distinct from the individual buildings mentioned above. Together with the palace park and the artwork on the riverbank, it broadens the options to include traces in the urban landscape, a landscape garden and art in the open air.
Plan your stay around your interests
If you are travelling with people who have different interests, Worms offers several distinct themes to explore and discuss together. Architecture and history sit alongside art collections, while the palace park and Kriemhild’s Rose Garden offer a different perspective. This lets you choose accommodation to suit the kind of trip you have in mind, without limiting your stay to a single attraction.
Discover more destinations: Heppenheim An Der Wiese, Abenheim, Mainz, Neustadt An Der WeinstraĂźe, Frankenthal, ZweibrĂĽcken, Speyer.
Back to the main travel overview: Rhineland-Palatinate.
