Speyer Imperial Cathedral

The Imperial Cathedral (officially the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Stephen) was begun under Conrad II from 1030 and consecrated in 1061. Henry IV had it rebuilt again, and the result is the largest surviving Romanesque church anywhere in the world. The pillared crypt beneath the choir and transept is the biggest of its kind and holds the tombs of eight emperors and kings, among them Conrad II and Henry IV. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. In summer you can climb the southwest tower and look out over the Rhine all the way to the Palatinate Forest.