Dom Magdeburg

Begun in 1209 on the ruins of an Ottonian church and consecrated in 1363, Magdeburg Cathedral was the first Gothic cathedral raised on German soil, and it holds the tomb of Emperor Otto I. Music has been continuous there for centuries: a cathedral choir, an organ series, and the city's own claim on Georg Philipp Telemann, born in Magdeburg in 1681 and honoured by the festival that bears his name. Visiting orchestras play in the nave, where the long reverberation suits Bach as it suits plainsong.