Photos

This is a view of the center of Trier. Trier lies in Moselle valley between low vine-covered hills of ruddy sandstone in the west of the federal state Rheinland-Pfalz, near the German border with Luxembourg within the important Mosel wine-growing region.
Trier is the oldest German city - founded by the Romans in the year 16 B.C. as "Augusta Treverorum". Still today there are many Roman legacies - most of them World Heritage Site of UNESCO. Trier many years was one of the seats of government of the Roman Emperor Constantine - with the biggest palace area before he installed his seat of government in Konstantinopolis.
Furthermore Trier is the oldest seat of a Christian bishop north of the Alps.

In my picture you can detect some of the outstanding buildings of Trier.

Lefthand you can see a long auburn building - the huge Constantine Basilica, a basilica in the original Roman sense, being the 67 m long throne hall of Roman Emperor Constantine; it is today used as a Protestant church. It was built at the beginning of the 4th century and still today it's the biggest building of the ancient world north of the Alps.

In the right part of my picture you can see the big complex of the Trier cathedral St. Peter, a Roman Catholic church which also dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment that presumably goes back to the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals.
The history of the cathedral St. Peter begins in Roman times, when a church was built by Constantine, the first Christian emperor, over the palace of his mother Helena. Construction began in 326 A.D. to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his reign. He also began St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to mark the occasion.
In the time of Maximin, bishop of Trier - first half of the 4th century - it became one of the biggest church complexes of Europe - with 4 basilicas, a baptistery and many secondary buildings.
Immediately - lefthand - next to the cathedral you can see the Liebfrauenkirche, the oldest Gothic church of Germany - start of construction in 1230. It got the papal title "Basilica minor" in 1951.

In the middle of the photo you can see the steeple of the church St. Gangolf - next to the market place of Trier.


The marker in the map view function at the left shows you the situation of the Constantine Basilica. A bit north of it you can see the cruciform cathedral.