Worms, Germany Cruise Port

As a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Worms is a city located on the Upper Rhine of Frankfurt-am-Main. Among Germany’s oldest cities, Worms was founded in the pre-Roman era. Surviving through the medieval period since at least the 5^th century, the city became an ecclesiastical principality of the Roman Catholic Church in the early 600s. Today it is an industrial city creating and trading products such as metal goods, leathers, fodder, paints, ceramics, electric appliances, various chemicals, and machinery. Nearly half the city was destroyed during World War II; however, it was reconstructed in 1945, restoring or reimaging much of its Catholic architecture and icons. It also contains one of the oldest Jewish settlements in all of Germany with a Romanesque-Gothic synagogue dating back to the 11^th century that reopened after the war in 1961. Worms is also known as a leading wine trading center, and the surrounding area has many vineyards contributing to the region’s healthy supply.

• Visit the visually impressive Worms Cathedral. As one of the three great imperial cathedrals on the Upper Rhine, this reconstructed masterpiece is the finest example of High Romanesque architecture in Germany.
• Worms’ Jewish Cemetery is the oldest surviving Jewish cemeteries in all of Europe. While some headstones are in disarray and the grounds themselves are worn away with age, this holy site carries a certain divine beauty.
• St. Peter’s Dom is located atop Worms’ highest point and is the most important Romanesque building as it remains primarily intact since the late 15^th century.
• Gaze upon Worms’ Lutherdenkmal, or Luther Monument, one of many erected in many German cities in the 19^th century to celebrate the Roman Catholic Reformation.