Every design for Magdeburg

On the high western bank of the Elbe, the Magdeburger Dom stands on solid rock: the Domfelsen, a ridge of sandstone and siltstone that makes Magdeburg one of the few cities of the North German Plain built on bedrock. Part of the city stretches over a long island between the Strom-Elbe and the Alte Elbe, more of it along the flat eastern shore, and close by the river meets the Elbe-Havel Canal and the Mittelland Canal.

The cathedral holds the tomb of Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, and the city's story runs back to 805, when Charlemagne's records first named it Magadoburg. Three times it was nearly lost – to fire in 1207, to the sack of 1631 and to the bombing of 1945 – and each time it rebuilt. The Hubbrücke, the old steamer Schaufelrad-Schleppdampfer "Württemberg" and the Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen all belong to that river city, along with the Grüne Zitadelle von Magdeburg.

One detail says it all: the foot of the cathedral's north tower is the point from which Magdeburg measures its own position.