Our main reason for coming to the town was to see the Porta Nigra.
This city was the capital of the northern territories of the Roman Empire for 400 years. The city celebrated it's 2,000th birthday in 1984! This is by far the oldest place we have visited so far. When the city was built it had a four mile wall around it with four huge gates. The Porta Nigra (black gate) is the only one left standing. The wall and gates were built without mortar. Iron pegs are the only thing holding it together.
It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The other three gates were destroyed, but this one survived because it was made into a church.
As we walked toward the town center we passed this colorful building called the Drei Konigenhaus. It was built in the 1200's as a fortified house. Rich people used to keep their money in thier house, so this house has a floating door. It used to have a wooden staircase that could be pulled up for safety and it was the only way in or out.
When we got to the town center we were surprised to find how busy it was. We really should have paid better attention to the dates, because this was the first weekend of the Christmas Markets.
We pushed past the stalls selling crafts, food, and gluwein in order to see the sights. I wanted to get some good pictures of the town hall, but couldn't because of the crowds. It does have a good story behind it, though, that I would be happy to share.
The town hall was built in the 15th century. There was a lot of tension between the rich, self serving archbishops and the medieval people of Trier. They had wanted a town hall for a long time, but the archbishop wouldn't allow it. As a result, they built this "assembly hall" with two knights on the corners. The knight on the right side overlooks the market square. He has his mask up and is watching over the people. The knight on the other side has his mask down and is facing the cathedral and archbishop, ready to fight.
Under the knights are a bunch of saints.
On the other side of the square was the peoples Church of Saint Gangolf. They built the tower so it would be higher than the cathedral (which was a giant no-no in all cities at that time). They put a Latin bible verse in gold letters on the top of the tower as a statement that says "Stay awake and pray."
As a retaliation the archbishop raised one tower on the cathedral and put his own threatening verse on it: "For you never know the hour when the Lord will come."
We went inside the cathedral (one of our favorite things to do when visiting any city) and admired its beauty.
There were several of these intricate alters around the cathedreal. You would think these alters portrayed religious icons, but not here. They were dedicated to the bishops and was a way for them to memorialize themselves.
We took turns going on the pilgrimage walk, up the stairs and past the alter. This church supposedly holds the Holy Robe of Christ. It wasn't on display (apparently it rarely is), but was locked up in the reliquary behind a gold gate.
The treasury is also supposed to have a holy nail from the Crucifixion, but we didn't see that either.
After the cathedral we walked the Christmas Market a little bit, ate some hot potato pancakes, drank some gluwein and called it a day.
We came, we saw, we left.
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