Surprise finding Forgotten grave discovered in the Bonn Minster
Bonn · Behind a plate made of slate, architects of the Hahn and Helten Bureau made a surprising discovery. They found the tomb of Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg (1260 - 1297) in the western crypt of the Bonn Minster in Bonn city center.
The Bonn Minster, known in the German language as the Münster, is located in the city center and is one of Germany’s oldest churches. In 1947/48, there was reconstruction of the church, following war damage and the tomb chamber had been discovered at that time, but it fell into oblivion. The architects found it when they were examining the old church to find areas damaged by moisture before they begin with renovations. In the west crypt, they found the remains of the last excavation: wood and iron bars on which the coffin stood.
On the day exactly four years after the bombing of the center of Bonn on October 18, 1944, the Catholic parish had put a time capsule in the chamber. In the time capsule was a note from 1948 which said, “The roof of the cathedral was destroyed by firebombs, the northern transept was destroyed by an explosive bomb and the chapter house also largely destroyed by bombs." Further, the time capsule document said that the grave had already been disturbed and that only a few remaining bones were buried there.
These remains are to be re-examined using today’s methods, according to Christoph Keller, an archaeologist at the LVR Bureau for conservation. “For us, the tomb is an important relic of that period in relation to the rank of Bonn in the archdiocese and in Rhineland. It shows the special significance,” said Minster spokesperson Reinhard Sentis.
Four Cologne archbishops ruled here and were also buried here. The Bonn Minster has a history of changing construction, being built up, torn down, destroyed or covered in rubble. Construction was especially active between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Siegfried von Westerburg was archbishop of Cologne from 1275 - 1297. In the struggle for supremacy on the Rhine, he lost the Battle of Worringen in 1288. Archaeologist Keller said the the fact that the grave had not been completely broken up in the establishment of the west crypt, shows that it was very valued. Sentis anticipates that this will not be the last discovery in the renovation of the Minster.
Orig. Text: Bettina Köhl
