Osnabrück Cathedral

The Church of St. Katharinen was founded in the 13th century. The present building was constructed from about 1300 to 1500, with several interruptions. The church, which has been Protestant since 1543, was used by the Swedish legation to hold church services and meetings during the peace negotiations of the Thirty Years' War from 1643 to 1648. The proximity of the castle, built from 1669 as the residence of the Prince-Bishops of Osnabrück, made St. Katharinen a court church. Towards the end of the Second World War, St. Katharinen's fell victim to fire during the last of the air raids on Osnabrück on 25 March 1945. The church was rededicated in 1950. In 1990 it had to be closed for basic repairs to the interior. After extensive renovation work, the church was reopened in November 1992.

St. John's Church is a former collegiate church dating from the 13th century and one of the oldest Gothic hall churches in Germany. When the church was consecrated on 18 August 1292, the construction work was not yet complete. The work continued until the beginning of the 14th century. It is a three-aisled hall church with an east transept and an enclosed rectangular choir. Between the choir and the southern arm of the transept is a sacristy. To the north, the cloister is connected to the transverse chapel used as a prayer room.

This church began its construction in the 13th century, at the foot of the Sparrenburg fortress. The church gained its final appearance in the 15th century and is most noted by its two 78 meter tall gothic spires. These spires were replaced after the originals were destroyed in the Second World War. The church houses a 15th-century altarpiece done by an unknown artist that is considered one of the most valuable pieces of medieval art in Germany; two of its fragments are kept in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.