Ulm Minster

Ulm Minster tickets: which one to buy

Ulm Minster stands on the Münsterplatz in the centre of Ulm, a city on the Danube in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, and entry to the church is free, while climbing the tower requires a ticket. Its steeple, about 161 metres high, is the tallest church tower in the world, and the climb of 768 steps to the highest viewing gallery rewards visitors with views over the city, the Danube and, on clear days, the Alps. The climb is narrow and steep near the top, so it is not suitable for people with vertigo or limited mobility, and the tower can close in bad weather.

Ulm is about an hour from Stuttgart and Munich by train, and the Minster is a short walk from the station. Visitors often combine it with the Fishermen's Quarter, with its half-timbered houses and canals, the leaning Crooked House hotel, the painted Town Hall, the Stadthaus designed by Richard Meier on the Minster square, and the Museum of Bread Culture. Ulm is also the birthplace of Albert Einstein, and a memorial marks the site of his birth house. The Minster is a Lutheran church, active with services and concerts, and visiting is restricted during worship.

Visiting Ulm Minster: what to see

The citizens of Ulm laid the foundation stone of the Minster in 1377, deciding to build a church outside the old walls that would be large enough for the whole population, and they paid for it themselves rather than relying on a bishop or a prince. The architects of the Parler family and later Ulrich Ensinger designed a vast Gothic church, but work slowed in the sixteenth century, when Ulm became Protestant, and it stopped in 1543, leaving the tower unfinished. Construction resumed in the nineteenth century, following the medieval plans, and the tower was completed in 1890, making it the tallest in the world.

The church survived the bombing of Ulm in 1944, which destroyed much of the old town around it. Inside, the nave is very tall and wide, and the church holds about two thousand people seated. The choir stalls, carved by Jörg Syrlin the Elder between 1469 and 1474, include busts of sibyls, prophets and ancient philosophers, and they are among the masterpieces of late Gothic woodcarving. The tabernacle, a slender stone tower beside the choir, rises almost twenty-six metres. The church also has medieval stained glass, a large organ and a small sparrow figure on the roof, recalling the legend of the Ulm Sparrow, which showed builders how to carry long beams through the city gate.

Ulm Minster opening hours and the best time to go

The Minster is open daily, and the tower closes about an hour before the church; the last climb is earlier in winter. Mornings on weekdays are the quietest time for the tower. Summer is the most pleasant season, and Schwörmontag, in July, brings the Nabada, a colourful river parade on the Danube. The Christmas market on the Münsterplatz is one of the most popular in the region. Organ concerts are held regularly. Allow about half an hour for the church, and an hour or more for the tower climb.