Paderborn Cathedral

Paderborn Cathedral stands right where the River Pader bubbles up from the ground, and its 93-metre west tower is visible from almost anywhere in town. Inside you find one of Germany's great episcopal churches: a wide Gothic hall, a crypt of rare size and a portal guarded by one of the country's earliest standing Madonnas. And in the cloister, visitors hunt for three hares that share only three ears between them.

History: twelve centuries on the same spot

Charlemagne built a palace with a church at the Pader springs. In 799 he met Pope Leo III here, and the diocese was probably founded at that time. In 836 the relics of St Liborius arrived from Le Mans, and he has been patron of town and diocese ever since. The earlier church burned in the year 1000 and several times afterwards.

Today's cathedral dates mainly from the 13th century. Building began around 1210 in the west in Romanesque style and grew more Gothic as it moved east, which you can literally read in the windows from west to east. In 1622 Christian of Brunswick, known as "mad Christian", plundered the cathedral and had the golden Liborius shrine melted down into coins. During the Second World War the building burned out completely and was rebuilt from 1945.

What to see

• Paradise Portal: Westphalia's largest Romanesque portal is on the south side, because a cathedral with two choirs has no west front. The Virgin on the central post dates from the first third of the 13th century; traces of paint show the figures were once coloured. The porch is thought to have sheltered pilgrims heading for Santiago.
• The interior: a three-aisled hall church 104 metres long with two transepts. Look for the Fürstenberg tomb and the apostle statues on the pillars.
• Crypt: 32 metres long and, alongside Bamberg and Speyer, one of the largest hall crypts in Germany. The relics of Liborius rest under the altar in an ebony shrine. Since the 2023 redesign a Liborius figure by Stephan Balkenhol stands here.
• Three Hares Window: In the cloister courtyard, early 16th-century tracery in red Weser sandstone shows three leaping hares. The old rhyme says each hare has two ears, yet there are only three ears in all. The original is in the neighbouring Diocesan Museum.

Good to know

The hare window was once a lucky charm that every travelling journeyman had to see in Paderborn. Today's Liborius shrine of gilded silver dates from 1627 and is carried through town every July during the Libori festival. A legend says that when the relics arrived in 836, a peacock flew ahead of the procession and dropped dead when they reached the cathedral. Just north of the cathedral stands the Chapel of St Bartholomew from 1017, considered the oldest hall church north of the Alps.

Visiting, tours and timing (as of October 2026)

• Opening hours: daily 6:30–18:30. No sightseeing during services.
• Admission: free.
• Cathedral tour: Saturdays at 10:30 and 14:30, about one hour, €5 per person, meeting point at the Paradise Portal. Book ahead.
• Tower tour: 89 steps in the stair turret and another 60 on a spiral staircase lead up to the eight bells. Not for anyone afraid of heights.
• LUMINISCENCE: From 6 November 2026 until February a light and sound show tells the building's story inside the church, tickets from €29.

Allow 45 to 60 minutes for the cathedral, crypt and cloister. Add the Diocesan Museum, the imperial palace and the Pader springs and you easily fill half a day.

Tripto tip

After your visit, walk round the north side. Between the cathedral and the Bartholomew chapel, pale paving stones trace the outline of Charlemagne's Church of the Saviour, and a few steps further on the Pader springs bubble up.