Essen Cathedral (Essener Dom), more widely known as Essen Minster (Essener Münster), since 1958 the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Essen, the "Diocese of the Ruhr". The minster was formerly the collegiate church of Essen Abbey, founded in about 845 by Altfrid, Bishop of Hildesheim, around which the city of Essen grew up. The present building, which was reconstructed after its destruction in World War II, is a Gothic hall church, built after 1275 in light-coloured sandstone. Though the first aspirations of setting up a bishopric of the Ruhr were dashed in the 1920s, a new bishopric was formed in 1958 from parts of the dioceses of Münster, Paderborn, and Cologne and Essen Minster was made the cathedral. On 1 January 1958 the first Bishop of Essen, Franz Hengsbach was consecrated by the Nuncio Aloisius Joseph Muench. (previous | next | back to album | 2022:06:05 19:57:37 | 35% of an album)