„The cathedral cannot be replaced by any other singing space.“

Martin is 71 and has had a strong connection with the cathedral throughout his life. He has sung in the choir since he was eight. He laughs when he explains that: "...my voice has ranged over the years from soprano to bass". And he talks about the "privilege" of being able to give his childish curiosity free rein in areas of the cathedral that are not normally accessible, such as the heating ducts, the bishop's cloister and the belfry when the bells are rung for evensong. "Being so close to the bells is something that you never forget," he says. He never wanted to join another choir. "I couldn't imagine singing anywhere else."

Martin Groß calls the cathedral his "emotional home". Isabel Tönniges nods in agreement. She is now 30 and visits to the cathedral with her parents and grandmother, choir concerts and guided tours of the organs were an important part of her childhood. She soon began coming to the cathedral on her own to journey back into the Middle Ages, guided by genuine archaeological evidence. Excavations have been carried out in the cathedral and in the square outside since the 1960s. The finds shed more light on medieval Magdeburg and also on medieval Europe. For example, the outline of the Ottonian cathedral was discovered in the cathedral square.

Now sandstone walls with a height of 50 centimetres have been built to represent the foundations of its Northern Church. Bronze panels on the former pillars of the church inform visitors about the Ottonians. "Many of our guests don't realise until they get here what an important historical site this is," says Isabel Tönniges, referring to Magdeburg as a city of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Otto the Great was crowned as its emperor by the pope in 962.

Echtzeit - Online Magazin - The voices of Magdeburg cathedral