Explore Trier

The Hauptmarkt is Trier's central market square, laid out in 958 under Archbishop Heinrich I and marked by the Marktkreuz, among the oldest medieval market crosses in Europe. Surrounded by gabled townhouses, the Gothic St. Gangolf church and the Renaissance-era Steipe hall, it remains the city's main gathering place.

The Liebfrauenkirche stands beside Trier Cathedral and was built between about 1230 and 1260 in French High Gothic style, the earliest church of its kind outside France. Twelve columns and eight rounded chapels are arranged around a central space shaped like a rose.

Trier Cathedral is Germany's oldest cathedral, its core built from Roman brick around AD 270, with the present Romanesque structure raised between 1035 and 1270 under successive archbishops. Its west front rises in four towers, and the treasury displays the Holy Robe, a relic linked to Christ.

The Aula Palatina is a vast Roman palace hall built around AD 300-310 for Emperor Constantine, and is the largest surviving single room from antiquity. Since the 19th century it has served as a Protestant church, known locally as the Konstantinbasilika.

The Roman Bridge crosses the Moselle on nine stone pillars dating from the 2nd century AD, making it the oldest standing bridge in Germany. Its roadway was rebuilt after wartime damage in the 12th and again in the 18th century, and the bridge still carries traffic across the river today.

St. Matthias' Abbey is a Benedictine monastery and basilica south of Trier's old town, built from the 12th century over the reputed tomb of the apostle Matthias, the only such burial north of the Alps. Its Romanesque crypt remains a pilgrimage site, and the basilica stays open daily for visitors.