Mainz, Germany - March 9

When we first got here we stayed in the Mainz Hilton Hotel on the Rhine River. We were really lucky to have experienced the wonderfully popular village of Mainz. We did not get to see the sites however, since we were looking for a place to live. So we went back for the day and see chapels, museums and the Saturday market.

St. Stephan - Mainz

We started by going to St. Stephan, a Gothic hall collegiate church known for its windows by Marc Chagall. The church was originally built in 990 at the order of Archbishop Willigis. The church was founded on top of the highest hill in town.

The Chagall choir windows are unique in Germany. Chagall created nine stained-glass windows of scriptural figures in luminous blue. The figures depict scenes from the Old Testament. The stained-glass is stunning.

St. Augustin

The church of St. Augustin know in German as Augustinerkirche, was the minster of the Augustine friars in the city centre of Mainz. The church was built from 1768 to 1771 and is very much associated with the baroque style. The interior of the church tends to be rococo, which is expressed by a fusion of nave and choir a concept that is increasingly found in the Rococo stylistic.

Saturday Market - Downtown, Mainz

Following those visits we spent some time in the downtown Saturday Market visiting the vendors selling flowers, food and drink, and various other items.

Gutenberg Museum - Downtown, Mainz

Then off to the Gutenberg Museum in downtown Mainz. The Gutenberg Museum is one of the oldest museums of printing in the world, located opposite the cathedral in the old part of Mainz, Germany. It is named after Johannas Gutenberg, the inventor of printing from movable metal type in Western Europe. The collections include printing equipment and examples of printed materials from many cultures. The old bibles were amazing!