"I am still extremely grateful and happy when I look back on this special consecration weekend," says Dr Holger Kunde, Director of the United Cathedral Foundations. "We were able to get people excited about Merseburg Cathedral like never before. We had so many emotional and worthy highlights on these days with the consecration of the bells on the cathedral square, the festive church services, the unique light illumination and the concerts," continued Dr Kunde.
On behalf of the dean, Prof. Dr Karin von Welck, the United Cathedral Founders would like to thank all those involved for making this celebration a success: the state of Saxony-Anhalt for their financial support, the city of Merseburg and the Protestant parish of Merseburg for their support and excellent cooperation, the two patrons Friedrich Kramer and Dr Gerhard Feige, Provost Johann Schneider, Provost Gregor Giele and cathedral preacher Bernhard Halver for the emotional liturgical organisation of the bell consecration and the festive service, and the church's founder, the church's pastor, Dr Gerhard Feige. Gerhard Feige, Provost Johann Schneider, Provost Gregor Giele and cathedral preacher Bernhard Halver for the emotional liturgical organisation of the bell consecration and the festive service, the Friede Springer Foundation for financing the casting of the new bell, the Hilliger Verein from Freiberg for the bell casting, the Merseburg court tailors for decorating the procession and the historical costume association for decorating the bell, the cathedral organist Michael Schönheit, the cathedral cantor Stefan Mücksch, the Wirtz couple for financing the benefit concert, VJU Lighting from Leipzig for the lighting illumination, the broadcasting representative of the Protestant regional churches at the MDR Holger Treutmann for organising the broadcast of the festive service and the MDR for the extensive reporting. We would also like to thank the kindergartens and schools that took part in the Mitren project and the parade, the Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellerei and the Saalesparkasse for their support and, last but not least, our Foundation employees who planned and organised this event.
Several thousand visitors came to Merseburg Cathedral on the consecration festival weekend. Over 1700 visitors bought tickets to see the original Merseburg magic spells, which are on display until the end of October. The newly cast bell, which was consecrated on Friday, was also struck by hundreds of people according to a centuries-old tradition. Many people donated to the cathedral, raising over 3,200 euros for the imperial cathedral. "It was wonderful to see the joy with which people took the opportunity to ring the bell. But I was also particularly touched by the many children who took part in the procession and the bell dedication on Friday with their homemade mitres," says Dr Holger Kunde.
After the consecration ceremony, the festive year "Consecrated for eternity. 1000 years of the consecration of Merseburg Cathedral" is not over yet, another highlight awaits visitors to the imperial cathedral in October: the original Merseburg spells. Normally, the original manuscript is kept safely in the cathedral archives. The original can only be presented to the public on very special occasions. In the festival year, the original Merseburg spells can be viewed until 31 October 2021.
The new bell will be placed in the belfry in October. It will ring for the first time on Reformation Day on 31 October 2021. Until then, there will be numerous events on the weekends in October Bell guides to the historic bell ringing in the tower and the new peace bell.
