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Mayence or Mainz is a beautiful city with a long history. It\u2019s situated on the banks of the river Rhein. Its center was completely destroyed during WWII but today one can hardly believe this, seeing so many old buildings standing around. They were restored thanks to those \u201cwomen of the ruins\u201d, who, after having lost their sons and their husbands, gathered their courage along with the remains of the buildings in piles so that these buildings could be later rebuilt. At least the public ones and the churches. -First published in 2013<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mayence or Mainz is a beautiful city with a long history. It\u2019s situated on the banks of the river […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-173","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.onliners.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe churches of Mayence are many and of all sorts. The city was in the past, and still is, I believe, a religious centre and an Archbishop\u2019s see. The churches are in their greatest part Catholic but there are some Protestant ones as well and they all dazzle the visitor thanks to their architecture and their interiors.
\nThe Mainzer Dom, the Cathedral of the city, is one of the most important ones in Germany, along with the one in Cologne and one in the city of Worms. The Cathedral wasn\u2019t spared the bombing, either. But here it stands, an impressive landmark, with its particular rhythm and colour, this pinkish colour one sees in all the buildings of Mainz. The facades of the buildings which surround the Dom are decorated with painted flowers and other designs, similar to the ones you can see in another city on the Rhine, the swiss Basel. Here, at the Dom square of Mainz, there is an open-market once a week and you can\u2019t help admiring its order and cleanliness. Flower sellers offer neatly arranged pots and bouquets, they don\u2019t cry out \u201ccome and buy\u201d nor tease the competitors as people do in other countries. Nobody is shouting here, all exchanges take place peacefully as it becomes a church exterior.
\nA book lover like me can\u2019t help adoring Mainz, the birthplace of Gutenberg who invented movable type. Here you can visit a museum bearing his name; it\u2019s dedicated to him and to the history of books. Here you can also visit the ruins of a church where he is supposed to have been christened, here there is an important University which is also named after him.
\nThanks to the many students, Mainz is a very lively city, full of cafes, bars, people who go around giving a certain colour to the narrow or broader streets. As for me, I\u2019m here today to explore those churches I haven\u2019t yet seen.
\nI\u2019ve visited the Cathedral often and my favourite church of St.Stephan\u2019s with Chagall\u2019s stained glass windows; once or twice I also saw St.Christopher\u2019s where as I\u2019ve already mentioned, Gutenberg was christened some centuries ago. This church was open in the past, now is protected by iron railings, and it seems it\u2019s soon going to be restored.
\nOne must have a bit of luck in order to visit all churches in Mainz in just one day; most of them are usually closed during work days. But it was obviously my lucky day.
\nFirst stop Christ\u2019s church on the Rhine. One can see it from all spots, thanks to its cupola and its height. It\u2019s a Protestant church which looks like St.Paul\u2019s in London. However, my tourist leaflet informs me that it was built after St.Peter\u2019s in Rome. The interior is very simple, as in Evangelic churches.
\nNow I leave it behind and go along the Rhine. It\u2019s a beautiful day and I entertain the thought of embarking on the cruise ship called Heinrich Heine (after the poet). It\u2019s full of elderly passengers and I could get off at the next stop. But I change my mind and follow my initial plan.
\nNow I enter the next church with its twin onion-shaped towers. It is dedicated to Saint Peter. The interior is all gilded, its rococo decorations are radiant. Under the pulpit four exotic sculpted figures with turbaned heads and wearing earrings, are the symbols of the human fish which the Great Fisherman Peter caught with his teachings.
\nPeter is one of my favourite personalities in the New Testament, along with John the Baptist. The former was so human, he betrayed Jesus three times out of fear. John is the contrary. He had no fear. He said what he had to say, he did what he wanted to do and didn\u2019t draw back when he saw death approaching.
\nThe next church is not included in the pamphlet as it was renovated rather recently, end of 2011. I stumble upon it by chance. It\u2019s the chapel of St.Joseph\u2019s. It shines freshly painted, it\u2019s simple, looks more like a lecture room in a cultural center than like a church. Then it\u2019s St.Quentin\u2019s turn where a new organ purchased in England has recently arrived. Here again there\u2019s an artistic reference to fish or to our souls which look like fish out of water when they are not near Jesus Christ.
\nNow I can take a coffee break in one of the many cafes of Mainz and think of the other churches I\u2019ve seen in this city during previous visits.
\nSt.Augustin\u2019s is situated on one of the prettiest and more touristic streets where one can find many shops and restaurants. With its white interior and golden ornaments, it looks like many other german baroque churches. I\u2019ve read that the bombs barely touched it. There is also St.Ignatius which I believe to have seen in the past but can\u2019t remember it. The same goes for the Carmelites church. Still, the oldest church of the city, St.John\u2019s, is closed. I think it was closed the last time I wanted to visit it.
\nAll churches have a visitors\u2019 book. There I wrote a few words. Health, Love, Peace, Gratitude. Gratitude is the most beautiful word with the most beautiful meaning.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n