For Primary Schools
Please note that the projects are in German only.
Available both during the school day and also for after-school clubs, the KinderDomBauhütte (children’s construction workshop) introduces children and young persons to the fascinating world of a construction workshop in the 13th century. The children get a chance to slip into the role of a stone mason, glazier or master builder and embark on an exciting search for clues in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Each project is linked to discovering Naumburg Cathedral and includes a creative element in the children’s construction workshop, where individual masterpieces can be produced. Children discover how art, architecture and religion came together in the middle ages in a vivid and entertaining experience.
The wide range of projects offered are adapted to the frameworks of the syllabus and can be tailored to groups of all ages. There are any many opportunities to link activities to a range of subjects including history, RE, art, biology, maths and special topics.
FROM CLASS 1 (AGE SIX)
Botany in stone
The West Choir Screen in Naumburg Cathedral is covered in the most beautiful ornamental foliage from the middle ages. Almost as if they were alive, oaks, vines and hops thrive on the columns. The Naumburg Master’s inspiration – the plants of the Saale-Unstrut region – can still be found in the Cathedral Garden. In the garden, children can closely compare the sculptural works with their living templates and discover the interplay between nature and art. We also have a go at the intricate work of the sculptors. Following the traditions of such workshops, we work in medieval dress with chisels, rasps and files and create a foliate relief out of aerated concrete blocks based on our own sketches.
Duration: 150 min
Project fee: €8 per person
Heavenly light
The stained-glass windows of Naumburg Cathedral demonstrate the high level of craftmanship of the medieval glassmakers who fashioned items of such resplendence from this most sensitive material. It is from their work that we understand how important light was in Gothic cathedrals. Pupils look at the interplay between light, colour and geometry and go on to create their own piece of heavenly light as a memento. As glass artists they quickly learn the sensitivity required to work on such small pieces of glasswork. In the glass workshop they cut, break and grind the luminous glass to create their own pendants. Placing their pendants together also creates a collective piece of artwork for the whole group.
Duration: 150 min
Project fee: €8 per person
Uta von Naumburg. A lady of style
Is the most beautiful woman of the Middle Ages also a fashion icon? The elegant drapery and the flowing movement of her robes make Uta look astonishingly alive, as if the Naumburg Master had petrified her in mid-movement. The clothes of the twelve donor figures in the west choir tell the children a lot about everyday life in the late Middle Ages. They can best examine the garments on a dressed figure. They become medieval fashion designers themselves and help Uta dress.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: €6 per person
A kaleidescope of multicolour
Patience is a virtue - that must have been what the glassmakers who created the mosaic window in the baptism chapel thought. The stunning 1.7-metre-high piece of art is made up of hundreds of tiny pieces of coloured glass. The motto here is: eyes up and ears pricked! There is an exciting story behind the window and all will be revealed. Inspired by the splendour of the glasswork the children then build their own small glass mosaic using pieces of coloured glass.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: €8 per person
Medieval scents
A cathedral garden is like a pharmacy. Wholesome medicinal and scented plants have been cultivated here for centuries. Knowledge of their use and effects has been handed down from generation to generation. Now it’s the turn of the next generation: while searching for herbs, children learn a lot about the healing power of plants and design and fill their own scented bags.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: €6 per person
Fossilised garden
Whitebeam, hops, vines and other plants all set in stone adorn the West Choir Screen and West Choir of Naumburg Cathedral. The various species depicted can still be identified accurately today such is the level of detail produced by the medieval sculptors. The floral capitals also tell us a great deal about the significance of plants in the middle ages. Having learned the basics, the children then try their hand at sculpting the shapes of the flowers and leaves they have collected in a soft, stone-grey, paste-based paint and arranging these to create their own capitals.
Duration: 150 min
Price of activity: 5.00 € per person
The Three Kings and the Star of Bethlehem
The story of the three kings is without doubt one of the best known of all the Christmas stories and is depicted on various altars, paintings and windows in Naumburg Cathedral. However, is the story always told in the same way in each place? To find out, the children – like the kings themselves – follow the star into and around the cathedral. Once the star has been found, each child will create his or her own bright Christmas star from translucent paper as a keepsake.
The tour can be booked from the start of December to mid-January.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: € 7 per person
The secret of parchment
During the middle ages, text was predominantly written on parchment. This writing material was made from animal skin and was highly valuable. Only certain texts were written on it, primarily those of a religious nature. In the cathedral, children can discover even more about medieval parchment. We show which secrets the parchment preserves and explain the demanding production process. After this, we will bind our own booklets with each child designing their own one. This also gives them the opportunity to try writing with a genuine goose feather.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: €8 per person
FROM CLASS 2 (AGE SEVEN)
Dress up like the donors
Uta and Ekkehard, Hermann and Reglindis – these are four of the people depicted by the famous statues of the cathedral’s donors in its West Choir. We take a magnifying glass to all twelve of these statues to take a closer look. What do they tell us about the time in which they lived? What makes them stand out in terms of their clothing, posture or even their jewellery? With a piece of magical film and a little creativity it is easy to make our own showpiece using the example of the donors’ jewellery.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: €8 per person
Take an oath on your ancestors
During the time of the reformation, ancestry gained enormous significance in the church. Any person applying for a position as a canon had to be able to demonstrate a noble heritage over four generations. From the 18th century, colourful tablets of family trees were produced, some original versions of which are preserved in the Cathedral Chapter Archive. While discovering the visual library, children will have the opportunity to trace their own family trees based on the historic examples. Each child will then be given a quill and a tablet of their own family tree which, once complete, will be authenticated and sealed.
Duration: 150 min
Project fee: €6 per person
Let there be light. Creative candlemaking
Candlelight creates a warm and cosy atmosphere. But what significance did light hold in the middle ages? Why are candles still lit in church today? The children investigate these questions while exploring the cathedral. Afterwards, they make their own individual candles using a range of construction techniques.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: € 7 per person
Up, up and away. Discover the cathedral’s towers
Brave skywalkers needed. On a tower climb, children tackle the 200 steps up to the viewing platform in the northwest tower. However, before they expend any energy on reaching this wonderful view, the towers need to be measured and there are a few other little tasks to be completed. By way of reward, each child receives their own tower certificate, and of course a completely new perspective of the city and surrounding area.
Duration: 120 min
Project fee: 6,00 € per person
