Der Flur des Museums am Dom mit der Treppe zum Obergeschoss und einer Skulptuen von Kaiser Konstantin und der Heiligen Helena.
Der Flur des Museums am Dom mit der Treppe zum Obergeschoss und einer Skulptuen von Kaiser Konstantin und der Heiligen Helena.
Der Flur des Museums am Dom mit der Treppe zum Obergeschoss und einer Skulptuen von Kaiser Konstantin und der Heiligen Helena.
Der Flur des Museums am Dom mit der Treppe zum Obergeschoss und einer Skulptuen von Kaiser Konstantin und der Heiligen Helena.
Der Flur des Museums am Dom mit der Treppe zum Obergeschoss und einer Skulptuen von Kaiser Konstantin und der Heiligen Helena.
Man sieht einen Ausschnitt eines Gemälde in Brauntönen mit einer Frau, die eine offene Schatulle im Arm hält und in der Hand eine Perlenkette.
Man sieht einen Ausschnitt eines Gemälde in Brauntönen mit einer Frau, die eine offene Schatulle im Arm hält und in der Hand eine Perlenkette.
Man sieht einen Ausschnitt eines Gemälde in Brauntönen mit einer Frau, die eine offene Schatulle im Arm hält und in der Hand eine Perlenkette.
Man sieht einen Ausschnitt eines Gemälde in Brauntönen mit einer Frau, die eine offene Schatulle im Arm hält und in der Hand eine Perlenkette.
Man sieht einen Ausschnitt eines Gemälde in Brauntönen mit einer Frau, die eine offene Schatulle im Arm hält und in der Hand eine Perlenkette.

The Cathedral Museum Trier

Museum am Dom von oben

The Cathedral Museum is an institution of the Diocese of Trier. It collects, preserves, researches, and communicates to the public evidence of the history of art, culture, and piety of the Diocese of Trier and the former Archdiocese of Trier. Furthermore, it fosters dialogue with contemporary art. Since 2015, the museum has also been responsible for the scientific care of the cathedral treasury of the High Cathedral of Trier.


By juxtaposing ancient and contemporary art works, the museum invites the viewer to engage in dialogue and stimulate reflection. It is a place of encounter with contemporary art and its view of the realities of the world and humanity.


The museum has also been entrusted with archaeological research on the late antique predecessor buildings of the oldest German episcopal church, Trier Cathedral. This has resulted in a unique collection of archaeological finds that illustrate the origins of Christianity in Trier. The museum also looks after the corresponding archaeological excavation sites related to early Christianity in Trier.


Thus, the museum documents the continuity of the Trier church from the 4th century to the present day in a distinctive setting.

History of the Museum

Diözesan-Museum in den Nebenräumen des Kreuzgangs um 1904

Around 1850
Initial reflections of Canon Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky on the creation of a 'Christian Museum' in the cathedral area

3 October 1904
Opening of the ‘Diözesan-Museums' in the adjoining rooms of the cathedral cloister on the occasion of the 11th General Assembly of the German Society for Christian Art in Trier;
Canon Johannes Wiegand becomes the first director.

1924
Canon Nikolaus Irsch succeeds Johannes Wiegand as director of the museum.

1943
Start of excavations in the cathedral courtyard and inside the cathedral (1946) by archaeologist Dr Theodor K. Kempf

1944
The cathedral cloisters suffered partial destruction from aerial bombing, leading to significant damage to many items in the collections that were not removed from storage.

1948
Establishment of a ‘Department for Archaeology and Building Research’ in the Episcopal Vicariate General.
After the war, the museum moves to the former Ursuline boarding school building on the corner of Banthusstrasse and Mustorstrasse.

28 September 1952
The 'Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum' (Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum) was established by merging the Diocesan Museum with the Department of Archaeology and Building Research. The new director is Dr. Theodor K. Kempf, who will serve until 1984.

1982
Bishop Dr Hermann Josef Spital decides to relocate the museum to the building of the former prison in Windstraße

10 June 1988
Reopening of the museum in Windstraße under the new director, Dr Winfried Weber (1985-2010)

1 June 2010
Bishop Dr Stefan Ackermann puts a museum statute into force, according to which the museum is defined as an institution of the Diocese of Trier and a board of trustees is established.
The name is changed to ‘Museum am Dom Trier’.

October 2011
The newly designed square between the museum and the cathedral was renamed Bischof-Stein-Platz by resolution of the city council on 29 September 2011. The museum address is now ‘Bischof-Stein-Platz 1’.

April 2012
Markus Groß-Morgen is appointed director of the museum.

14 August 2018
The foundation of the ‘Freundeskreis Museum Dom Trier e.V.’

August 2023
On 1 February 2023, the Trier City Council decided to rename Bischof-Stein-Platz ‘Platz der Menschenwürde’. The museum address has also changed accordingly.

 

History of the Building

Gefängnisbau in den sechziger Jahren mit Dom im Hintergrund

around 1530
Cathedral provost Johann von Metzenhausen (Archbishop of Trier from 1531-1540) builds the Hünerberg Curia in Renaissance style

around 1828
Johann Anton Ramboux records the appearance of the Curia, one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Trier, in two drawings

1829
Demolition of the so-called Metzenhausen Curia

1832/33

The new construction of the ‘Royal Prussian Prison’ is based on the design by Johann Georg Wolff, the city architect of Trier and royal building inspector (1789-1861). This facility serves as an extension to the adjacent prison that was originally located within the former Dominican monastery to the south, which was demolished around 1902. The site is now occupied by the Auguste-Viktoria and Max-Plank-Gymnasium.

1876-93
The prison building functions as a barracks

1893-97
Structural changes to the building: insertion of partition walls, addition of one-storey

From 1897
the building is once again occupied by prisoners (84 cells)

1933 - 1945
From May 1940, the prison becomes a transit centre for political prisoners, Jews and opponents of the regime who are deported from France, Belgium, Luxembourg and England via Trier to German concentration camps. In memory of two prisoners, Jean Daligault and Maurice Jay Gould, stumbling stones were laid before the museum entrance in recent years.

1977
The building becomes vacant when the prison is moved to a new building in Trier-Euren

1982 - 1988
Planning and realisation of the conversion and extension by the Trier diocesan architect Alois Peitz: the prison becomes a museum

10 June 1988
Reopening of the museum