City Hotel Essen

DomschatzkammerThe cathedral's treasure chamber
This is Essen's share of flashy golden, silver and jeweled historic treasuries - the samples are mostly ecclesiastical (huh? Well, I'm talking crosses, vessels for holy water and relics here), but there's also the crown from Otto III's childhood, his sword, some (open) books and a magnificent book cover! Man, people back then certainly invested more time in creating beauty in the things that surrounded them... like doors too... I keep wondering how and why doors were so much spiffier in days of old, when people had to work on them for days, weeks, maybe months... and nowadays you could just put a piece of wood in a machine, program it, let it run and there's your perfectly cool door (or whatever) in almost no time at all! But what do we see every day? Perfectly boring doors... metallic or made from plastics *sigh*...I'm rambling, am I not? Anyway, when you're in the treasure chamber, watch out for Clarence, the cross-eyes lion ;oP... you'll notice him when you see him... probably. And apart from that, just enjoy the truly fine works that are exposed, and don't forget to pay a visit to the Golden Madonna too! She's standing in the church, no entry fee there. She's the oldest, fully plastic sculpture of Maria (as in Mother of God) of the occidental world (oi, déja vu! Yes, same text in my description of Essen on my Germany page ;o)). There's also a seven armed candelabra, which is of some significance in the history of art, and the devil's column... it has a story around it which I might add later. Or you just go and ask some church employee.