Minster church of St. Quirinus

Denkmal

With its dome visible from afar, the Minster Church of St. Quirinus stands out as a landmark in the City of Neuss. The church building is regarded as an outstanding example of (Lower) Rhenish late Romanesque architecture. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 9 October 1209 by the master builder Wolbero. This is the fourth building on the site – a small sacred building probably standing there on the edge of a late antique burial ground in the 5th century. It is assumed that a three-aisled basilica was built in the 9th century, this having been extended around 1000 when it gained a four-column crypt. The crypt was extended in the early 12th century, this work having been accompanied by a modernisation of the church. Foundations and floor fragments of the previous buildings are visible inside the church.

The church has repeatedly suffered damage and undergone structural changes over the centuries. After a lightning strike destroyed the roof and towers in 1741, the baroque dome with the statue of St Quirinus and pyramid roof on the west tower were built above the crossing tower.

The name Münster (English “Minster”) refers to its origins as the church of a Benedictine convent (monasterium). This was probably founded in the 9th century prior to conversion into a monastery in the second half of the 12th century. Following the transfer of the remains of St. Quirinus, an early Christian martyr, around 1050, the church grew into one of the most important pilgrimage centres in the Rhineland in the Middle Ages. The interior of the three-nave gallery basilica is dominated by the Quirinus shrine in the cloverleaf choir (three-conch choir). The Aachen goldsmith’s work from 1900, whose predecessors date back to the High Middle Ages, replaced an older shrine that is now in the Clemens Sels Museum.

Until the time of the French occupation of the Rhineland, a cloister and monastery buildings existed to the north of the church. These were demolished after the dissolution of the monastery during secularisation in 1802. Extensive repair and restoration work was carried out under Prussian rule in the 19th century, during the course of which parts of the eastern church building were also reconstructed in 1890. Further restorations followed in the first half of the 20th century. The cathedral was badly damaged in a bombing raid On 5 January 1944 – the east conch of the choir collapsing and destroying the crypt. The church was restored to its former splendour for the Quirinus anniversary in 1950. Further restoration work was undertaken in the 1980s to 2000s and then 2024. In 2009, Quirinus Minster was awarded the papal title of basilica minor.

Chronology

• 5^th century Existence of a small sacred building
• 9^th century Construction of the first three-aisled church
• around 1000 Installation of a crypt and extension of the church
• 1050 Bones of St Quirinus translated
• 1209 Foundation stone laid for today’s church building
• 1586 City fire, partial destruction of the cathedral
• 1741 Construction of the baroque dome after a lightning strike
• 1802 Dissolution of the monastery and demolition of the monastery buildings
• 1914 Fire in the west tower
• 1944 Collapse of the apse after bombing
• 1950 Completion of the reconstruction process
• 2009 Elevation to basilica minor

Sources and texts: Neuss municipal archives

This plaque was donated by: Bürgergesellschaft zu Neuss e. V.