The golden spires of Speyer

Your correspondent attended the opening concert of the Schwetzinger Festspiele 2009 yesterday evening, which tradionally takes place not in the Rococo Theater in Schwetzingen like the other Schwetzinger concerts, but in the cathedral in Speyer.

Under the motto 1,000 years of vocal music, performers were The Hilliard Ensemble, a British classical vocal quartet known originally for early music, but more recently also for more experimental work, for instance with the German composer Heiner Goebbels or with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. Singer Pur is a six-member vocal ensemble, not yet as famous as the Hilliards but gaining in reputation. In the august surroundings of the ancient cathedral, both ensembles sang mainly religious music (Bach in the first half) and the atmosphere was extremely beautiful and moving, despite the rather disappointing acoustics.

I was very glad to have the opportunity to visit Speyer for the first time in several years. It is so close to both Mannheim and Heidelberg that I felt one should make an effort to go there more often.

The locals say that Speyer is where the Pfalz begins to turn into Italy and I could see what they mean. The context is supposed to be culinary, but in fact the buildings in the beautiful square opposite the cathedral really do look more Italian than typically German. The many outdoor cafés and Biergärten though are fairly typically German and all the better for it.

Things to see in Speyer
• The cathedral (Dom zu Speyer) is one of the largest and most significant Romanesque churches in Germany. Construction began around 1030 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1061.
• The city hall (Rathaus) is a good example of late Baroque architecture.
• The fish market, which was already known in 1290 as “ forum piscium”
• The Speyer Museum of Technology (Technik Museum), which is housed in a former aircraft hangar from the year 1913, now classified as a historical monument. Here one can view airplanes, locomotives, fire engines and oldtimers.
• The IMAX movie theater which is part of the Museum of Technology
• Sea Life Speyer