Quirinus-Münster in Neuss

You're standing at the Quirinus-Münster in Neuss, one of the finest late Romanesque churches in Germany. Have a look at that sturdy west tower with its flat pyramid roof, and then at the dome over the middle of the church. On top stands a statue of Quirinus, the town's patron saint. It didn't always look like this. Until the eighteenth century the west tower carried a Gothic spire and rose to almost a hundred metres. It defined the skyline of Neuss. Then, in 1741, lightning struck and fire followed. The spires were never rebuilt. The tower got its flat roof, and the crossing got a Baroque dome. This spot has a much longer story, though. Around the start of the first millennium, the Romans had an army camp nearby. Right where the church stands, there was a burial ground. Around 850 a monastery was founded here, which later became a convent for women. In 1050, so the story goes, Abbess Gepa, a sister of Pope Leo IX, brought the relics of Quirinus from Rome. That drew pilgrims, and pilgrims brought money. In 1209 master builder Wolbero started on this church. He took his cue from Cologne, especially the church of St. Maria im Kapitol. You can see it in the cloverleaf-shaped choir. Since 2009 it has been a minor basilica. Life wasn't easy for this building. After the French Revolution it was used as a storehouse and the convent buildings were torn down. In 1914 the tower burned, and in 1944 bombs hit. So what's inside? Start with the floor: under a glass panel you can see remains of a Roman memorial building for the dead. In the apse stands the nineteenth-century shrine holding the relics of Quirinus. Look for the foundation stone bearing Wolbero's name, too. There's also a Roman sarcophagus, a plague cross from 1360, a statue of Mary from before 1430 and, by the entrance, a life-size Saint Christopher. The 1907 organ is one of the largest in the Archdiocese of Cologne, and so is the set of seven bells. Short on time? At least pop inside for that glass window in the floor.