Editing Ulm Minster (section)

==History==
===First construction phase, 1377-1543===
The original parish church in [[Ulm]] was built at the gate of the city outside the walls, and this caused much trouble for the citizens of the city in the 14th century's conflicts that involved Ulm, as demonstrated by Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]]'s siege of the city. This parish church had also been subordinated to [[Reichenau Monastery]] by [[Charlemagne]] in 813, and the denizens of Ulm wanted a new, independent church inside the city's walls. To this end, the near 10,000 inhabitants of the city decided to finance construction themselves. On 30 June 1377, Mayor [[Ludwig Krafft]] laid the first stone, the foundation stone, of the new church. This church, whose design would be given to [[Heinrich Parler]], the architect of Holy Cross Minster in [[Schwäbisch Gmünd]]. The first plan was to build a stepped [[hall church]] with aisles as wide and almost as high as the central nave, with a main spire on the west and two steeples above the [[Choir (architecture)|choir]] ({{convert|29|m|ft|sp=us}} long, {{convert|15|m|ft|sp=us}} wide).{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} The women of the Ulmer Assemblage would also make their contributions to the foundation works, something memorialized by 17th and 18th century composer [[Barbara Kluntz]].<ref name="Ulmer1">[[#{{sfnref|Ulm.de}}|City of Ulm]]: [http://www.ulm.de/ulmer_geschichte_die_ulmer_sammlung_1230%E2%80%931808.31191.3076,.htm?_druck=1&id=31191&navi=3076 Ulmer Geschichte(n) - Die Ulmer Sammlung 1230–1808] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035430/http://www.ulm.de/ulmer_geschichte_die_ulmer_sammlung_1230%E2%80%931808.31191.3076,.htm?_druck=1&id=31191&navi=3076|date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

[[Michael von Gmünd|Michael Parler II]], who had experience from working at the [[St. Vitus Cathedral|Dombauhütte]] in [[Prague]], assumed construction of the church in 1381 and continued work on the nave, which had originally been conceived as a triple-aisled hall church with approximately equal height and width. From 1387 to 1391, Heinrich III Parler managed construction as head of the Bauhütte. Then in 1392 [[Ulrich Ensingen]], associated with [[Strasbourg Cathedral]], was appointed master builder. It was Parler's plan to construct the Ulm Minster's {{convert|150|m|ft|sp=us}} spire, the highest of any church. In order to balance its proportions, the nave was now to be much taller than the Parlers had intended, making a noticeable difference in height between the [[chancel]] and nave. The church was consecrated on 25 July 1405. In 1446, Ulrich's son [[Matthäus Ensinger|Matthäus]] took over construction and finished the choir vault in 1449 and the vault over the northern nave in 1452. When he died in 1463, his own son, [[Moritz Ensinger|Moritz]], took over construction. Himself dying in 1471, he completed the vaulting over the nave and constructed the [[sacrament house]], finally making the church a [[basilica]] according to Ulrich's plan.

In 1477, [[Matthäus Böblinger]] took over and made changes to the plans of the church but especially to the main tower and in doing so caused the church's first major structural threat: the heavy vaults of the wide aisles and high nave burdened the columns with too much lateral force at different heights. A new master builder, [[Burkhart Engelberg]] of [[Augsburg]], tackled the structural damage by reinforcing the foundation of the west tower and demolishing the heavy aisle vaults and replacing them with vaults of half widths, which afforded rows of additional columns dividing each of the aisles in two. Although catastrophe had been avoided, the walls were left without their buttresses for 350 years and the northern wall of the nave bulges outward by {{convert|27|cm|in|sp=us}} even today.

In a referendum in 1530/31, the citizens of Ulm converted to [[Protestantism]] during the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]]. Ulm Minster became a Lutheran church. Despite its vast size, it is not a cathedral, as the responsible bishop of the [[Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg]] – member of the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] – resides in [[Stuttgart]].

In 1543, construction work ceased at a time when the steeple had reached a height of some {{convert|100|m}}. The suspension of the building process was due to a variety of factors which were political and religious, like the Reformation, as well as economic, since the discovery of the Americas during the [[voyages of Christopher Columbus]] 1492–1504, the [[Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India]] in 1497–99, and [[Magellan's circumnavigation]] of the globe led to an epochal shift in trade routes and commodities. One result was economic stagnation and a steady decline, preventing major public expenditure.

<gallery widths="140" heights="180">
File:Münster Ulm June 2014001 18.jpg|Center aisle, looking east to the sanctuary
Ulm_Münster_Innen_Chorbogen_1.JPG|Due to the changed plans, the nave is much higher than the choir and aisles.
Ulmer_Münster_Nordschiffe_Reichsadler844.jpg|Northern aisle, divided in two by an additional arcade. The base of one arch covers an imperial eagle painted before modification of the vaulting.
Muensterplatz Ulm-1643-Merian.jpg|Ulm Minster in 1643, depicted by [[Matthaeus Merian]]
Ulm_Münster_1854.jpg|Photo of 1854, before completion of much of the second phase
Ulmer Muenster 1887.jpg|Photo of 1887, with new flying buttresses and lateral towers
File:RAU 3880.jpg|Ulm Minster as seen from the western city
File:Church bells of Ulm Minster (2019).jpg|Church bells of the Ulm Minster seen from above (2019)
</gallery>

=== Resumption and completion of construction, 1844-1890 ===
In 1817, the interior frescos were covered by painting the walls grey. In 1844, construction work resumed. After a phase of repairs lasting until 1856, the central nave was stabilized by the addition of flying buttresses. Then the small steeples beside the choir were built – without medieval plans. At last, the main steeple was completed, changing the available medieval plan in making it about ten metres taller. Finally, on 31 May 1890 the building was completed.

===World War II===
{{main|Bombing of Ulm in World War II}}
[[File:Bombentreffer in der Dachkonstruktion des Muensterchors.jpg|thumb|A not-detonated WWII-bomb deformed the steel construction over the choir.]]
A devastating air raid hit Ulm on 17 December 1944, which destroyed virtually the entire town west of the church to the railway station and north of the church to the outskirts. The church itself was barely damaged. However, almost all the other buildings of the town square (Münsterplatz) were severely hit and some 80% of the medieval centre of Ulm was destroyed.

A 500 kg-bomb fell on March 1, 1945 in the choir-room of the minster, but it did not explode.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-19 |title=Steinschlag-Gefahr: Unterm höchsten Kirchturm der Welt wird neu verputzt |url=https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/neu-ulm/Ulm-Steinschlag-Gefahr-Unterm-hoechsten-Kirchturm-der-Welt-wird-neu-verputzt-id52494016.html |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=augsburger-allgemeine |language=de}}</ref>

===Current events===
Due to renovation work, the Minster Tower had been closed after the first platform (70m)<ref>{{cite web |title=Ulmer Münster Gemeinde |url=https://www.ulmer-muenster.de/page/16/%C3%B6ffnungszeiten |website=www.ulmer-muenster.de |access-date=2023-04-13}}</ref> and parts of the nave have been closed to visitors since March 2023, however as of August 2024 the tower is now open up to the second platform and only the uppermost portion remains off limits.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ulmer Münster gesperrt |url=https://www.swp.de/lokales/ulm/ulmer-muenster-wieder-ist-ein-teil-des-deckenputzes-abgestuerzt-69878309.html |website=swp.de |date=26 March 2023 |access-date=2023-04-13}}</ref>