St. Martin's Fountain

The Bonner Münster stands at the heart of Bonn, its twin spires rising above the city’s rooftops. Built in the 11th century as a Romanesque collegiate church, it later became the city’s Catholic cathedral. After the nearby St Martin’s parish church was demolished in 1812, the building passed to the parish of St Martin and in 1956 was granted the title of Minor Basilica. A major restoration from 2017 to 2023 returned its medieval fabric to view. Excavations beneath the nave uncovered traces of a Roman cult site dedicated to Mercurius Gebrinius and the Matronae Aufaniae. A small necropolis with a memoria cella and stone benches appeared in the 2nd century. By the 6th century a hall church stood on the same spot, and Merovingian nobles chose it for their burials. Carolingian builders enlarged the complex into a collegiate church dedicated to the martyrs Cassius and Florentius. Inside, the high altar shelters their relics in three stone sarcophagi. The crypt preserves a 12th-century marble shrine commissioned by Provost Gerhard of Are. The surrounding Romanesque cloister, one of the best preserved north of the Alps, leads to chapels and altars in baroque style. Seven stained-glass windows by Alexander Linnemann fill the choir with coloured light.