The Cloister

Apart from the Chagall-windows, it's the cloister that makes up the reputation of St. Stephan as one of the great sights of Mainz. About 150 years after the completion of the collegiate church, the canons had the late Gothic square erected by their master builder Valentinus, finished in 1499.

Four wings enclose a square courtyard where many of the canons were laid to rest throughout the centuries.

The arcades allowed the clergy to amble and to let themselves become absorbed in their prayer. The small dimensions, the large windows and the richly decorated ceilings lend them an air of weightlessness and intimacy and make the cloister a refuge of peace and contemplation.

The nearly ninety key stones in the vaulting - partly from the time of construction, partly from the years of reconstructin in the seventies - show Saints and coats of arms of the donors.

The tombstones in the walls lay inside the church still in the 19th century; for better conservation they were taken to the cloister. The oldest slab (for the canon Wignandus) dates from the year1048.

The vaulting of the chapter hall is supported by a central column that was hewn at the request of Charlemagne about 790 to be used in the Emperor's palace at Ingelheim. In the course of time it had to be delivered to the collegiate of St. Stephan as part of the yearly church tax.

The Strohut-Epitaph in the south-east corner is a masterpiece of Adalbert in 1485; the artist who also made several tomb monuments in the Mainz cathedral. The crucifixion shows next to the Crucified his mother and his friend John and the two patron saints of the church, St. Stephen and Mary Magdalene. In front of the cross we see the two canons and donors Hermann and Arnold Strohut.

A comprehensive renovation from 2006 to 2008 made the cloister shine again as in its early times. It is said to be the most beautiful late Gothic one in Rhineland-Palatinate and serves - apart from its liturgical functions - as a place for concerts and exhibitions.