Recent archaeological research at Magdeburg´s cathedral square reveal walls of a medieval monumental building

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The excavation trench seen from the east. | Quelle: Holger Grönwald | Copyright: State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt | Download

Otto the Great and the Magdeburg Cathedral Hill
In view of the importance that the city of Magdeburg had for Emperor Otto I (912 to 973), known as the Great, in the 10th century, today´s state capital of Saxony-Anhalt has a special historical significance for medieval Europe. Here, the founder of the Holy Roman Empire endowed the Moritz Monastery and the first Magdeburg Cathedral, magnificently furnished the new buildings with imported antique marble columns and established a basis for Magdeburg's rise to one of the most important cities of the Middle Ages. The question of the location and architecture of the the sacred and profane buildings of this early heyday is between the much discussed topics in medieval research. Archaeological investigations on the Magdeburg Cathedral Hill, which rises as a plateau above the western bank of the Elbe river, are therefore always of particular importance.

State of research and questions
The square in the north of the Magdeburg Cathedral was first excavated between 1959 and 1968 under the direction of Ernst Nickel. Excavations revealed the foundations of an impressive monumental building. It essentially dates from the 12th century, but incorporates structures from older Carolingian and Ottonian buildings, of which only robbed foundation ditches were found, especially on the eastern edge of the cathedral square. Further traces of these buildings were found in an excavation by the LDA between 2001 and 2003 in the area of the street east of the cathedral square, which, however, did not directly connect with the older excavation trenches. A research project by the LDA Saxony-Anhalt in cooperation with the Institute for European Art History at the University of Heidelberg tries to approach the open questions (project management: Prof. Dr. Matthias Untermann; project staff: Sandra Kriszt M. A., Lena Schulten M. A.).
While the building structures on the cathedral square were addressed by the first excavator as the Ottonian royal palace and palatium of Otto the Great, the current researchers see them as the remains of several successive buildings: of a Carolingian seat of power, an Ottonian abbot's seat, a later bishop's seat, and a bishop's palace from the 12th century.
Part of the reassessment of the older excavations is also the current sounding in the southeast corner of the cathedral square, in which previously undisturbed and undocumented medieval buildings were located. The area closes a gap between the excavations of the 1960s and 2000s and serves to reappraise the chronological sequence of the Ottonian architectural remains on the cathedral square, their shape and functions.

Results of the current investigations
The current research excavation of the LDA Saxony-Anhalt, which has been running since October 16, 2023 under the direction of Dr. Holger Grönwald, despite its limited size, produced outstanding results. For the first time, actual architectural remains were found in the form of two walls - the outer wall of a semicircular room (apse) and a wall base at its north end that runs west - which can be assigned to the building from the Ottonian period. On the former outside of the building, both walls to the west have a sloping base made of plaster mortar, which was primarily used to protect against moisture. The outer wall of the apse appears to have been structured by half-columns or pilasters. It was part of the western end of the building, which extended to the east parallel to the earlier Gothic cathedral.
Despite its massive and high-quality construction, the Ottonian period building, to which the apse belonged, did not last long. Its remains are clearly overlaid by walls and the remains of a door frame, which can be assigned to the younger monumental building excavated by Nickel, presumably the bishop's palace of Norbert von Xanten (Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1126 to 1134). Traces of fire on the foundation of this younger building can probably be linked to the Magdeburg city fire of 1207. This corresponds to the observation of a burned layer that completes the sequence of layers documented within the younger building and is in turn overlaid by a leveling layer from the 13th century.
The new observations testify to the division of the main medieval buildings on the cathedral square into two phases in quick succession. In particular, in the current study area, for the first time in Magdeburg, not only looters pits but also the remains of a representative Ottonian period building could be documented. The new findings provide a glimpse of the Ottonian building assemblage, which was believed to have been largely lost. The excavations highlight the considerable potential for archaeological research at this historically highly important site.