Heavenly Mainz

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The contrast between the grand, dark Romanesque cathedral and the small, bright playful Augustinian church couldn't be starker. The opulent, ornate Rococo decoration with stucco in pale pink, blue and yellow shows frolicking cherubs and a painted and gilded ceiling fresco depicting the life of St. Augustine and the history of the order. A rare example of a Baroque pipe organ from 1773 and a very surprising kind of marble.    

Admired by more than 200,000 visitors a year, this major tourist attraction was originally built in 990 AD as the “Imperial Place of Prayer”. Today, St. Stephan’s Church contains 9 outstanding blue stained glass windows by the Jewish-Russian artist Marc Chagall. Already 89 years old, Chagall started designing his message of hope for this beautiful little church and finished the final window shortly before his death at the age of 97. Get to know the different scenes from the Old Testament like Adam and Eve in Paradise and Jacob's Dream then step into the small late Gothic cloister, one of the prettiest along the Middle Rhine.