Domschatzkammer

Description

In the Hohe Domkirche St. Peter zu Trier, the Trierer Domschatz preserves a significant collection of sacred artworks and liturgical objects; the holdings form part of the furnishings of the mother church of the Bistum Trier.

Originally, relics and valuables were kept in a treasury built around 1200 on the north side of the choir. With the growing number of pilgrims, the so-called Badische Bau was erected on the south side around 1480; the Domarchiv and the Trierer Domschatz have been located on the upper floor of this building ever since. Sources such as inventories from 1238, 1429 and 1776, as well as an engraving from 1655, provide insight into the historical composition of the collection, which was protected over centuries. In the 18th century larger portions of the holdings were lost: in 1792, 399 kilograms of precious metal were melted down, so that only a hand‑selected number of objects survived these losses. In the 19th and 20th centuries numerous works entered the collection from secularized churches, through donations, loans, the art trade and new commissions. To protect them from air raids the treasures were evacuated toward the end of the Second World War; in April 1945 they were discovered in a tunnel and were already partly returned to their original locations in May 1945. The scholarly care of the holdings is the responsibility of the Museum am Dom.

The holdings include objects from Late Antiquity to the 20th century, medieval manuscripts and liturgical vestments. Of particular note is an ivory relief from the 5th century (13 × 26 cm), probably from Constantinople, depicting a relic procession and Byzantine court ceremonies. From the Middle Ages survive, among other items, the Greek lectionary Codex Simeonis and a needle‑bound cap of Simeon von Trier, as well as the pericope book of 1380, which recounts the life of Christ. The Gospel book produced around 1100 in Helmarshausen, with a richly decorated cover, is regarded as a prized example of goldsmithing. Important Romanesque reliquaries include the chest‑shaped Andreas‑Tragaltar (Egbert‑Schrein) with the sandal of the Apostle Andrew and other relics, the speaking reliquary for the Holy Nail, a 28 cm long crook of a bishop’s staff adorned with Limoges enamel, and a censer dated to around 1100 with a complex iconographic program. The collection is complemented by historicist works of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as neo‑Gothic liturgical fittings.