I am bemused by some of the remarks here. Speyer Cathedral is simply one of the great Romanesque buildings of western Europe, and - for anyone with any sensitivity at all for the style and the spirituality of the eleventh century - it is an incredible building, easily the peer of any other church of the period in Germany, France, or England. I do wonder, though, how many visitors have any knowledge of, or even care about, the turbulent history of the Salian dynasty which is so present everywhere in this building. The cathedral itself is not just a house of religion but a mighty fortress and a show of strength by an emperor on a collision course with the papacy. Henry IV, the great Salian emperor whose remains lie in the crypt, ended his days in humiliation after begging the forgiveness of Pope Gregory VII in the snows of Canossa, barefoot and dressed in sackcloth. It is one of the great dramatic moments in the history of the Western church, and Speyer was the front-line of the battle between pope and emperor.