Basilica of St Paulinus

But nothing remains of this late-antiquity structure, which was destroyed by a fire in 1039. And it’s a similar story for the Romanesque basilica that replaced it, for this was blown up by French troops in 1674. When Archbishop Franz Georg von Schönborn financed a new building in 1734, Johann Georg Seitz and Balthasar Neumann had their own specific ideas of what it would looks like. And so it is that the Basilica of St Paulinus is today a baroque work of art with southern German character, unparalleled within the entire bishopric of Trier. Is this any consolation to St Paulinus?

A must for: Bavarians. Franconians. Baroque enthusiasts. Gold-hunters and lovers of colour.

Baroque: 70%
Fondness for detail: 70%
Ceiling paintings: 50%
 

PSSSST! THE INSIDER TIP:
The ceiling painting of St Paulinus is the largest in the entire Rhineland region, its colours and intricacy virtually unmatched. And binoculars don’t go astray in this church either, for it is otherwise very difficult to see the many details and narrative levels used by painter Christoph Thomas Scheffler to depict the life of St Paulinus and the martyrdom of the Theban Legion. The remains are incidentally said to still be housed in the basilica’s ancient tomb, which survived the fire, though this is only open on special occasions.