Basilika St. Lambertus

There are no written records of the beginning of the parish church of St. Lambert. According to the documents of the 17th century, written by the canon of Düsseldorf, a small chapel belonged to the courtyard of the nobility of Tivern, which was located on the right bank of the Rhine near Düsseldorf. This is probably identical to the church, first mentioned in 1159, from which the Cologne monastery St. Ursula received taxes.

In the XIII century, a small church was expanded to a three-story Romanesque village church.

In 1288, the supreme earl Adolph V. von Berg joined the free citizens of Cologne against Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg. On the field near Warringen, north of Cologne, a bloody battle took place. Count Adolf seized the archbishop and led him to the castle.

To thank for the energetic help of the people of Düsseldorf, he raised the village on Düssel to the city and signed the document on August 14, 1288.

Now he wanted to have a more beautiful and, most importantly, a larger church in his young city and began to expand the church in the then usual Gothic style, cultivating the current altar to the existing church in the east. In the west, the church was extended yoke and the construction of a church tower began. However, after his death, the further expansion of the church froze, as his successors chose to remain in the castle and were not very interested in the small town on the Rhine.

In 1348, the districts of Juliha and Berg were united. When Count Wilhelm von Kaiser Wenzel became the first Duke of Berg in 1380, he chose the insignificant city at the mouth of Düsseldorf as his residence city. Gradually, a powerful state grew up on the Lower Rhine. Under his rule, religious and social life in Düsseldorf has experienced tremendous growth. Then the construction of the Romanesque village church, begun in 1288, was completed. He destroyed the Romanesque middle section and continued to build in the Gothic style. Around the building (the choral room and the central nave) he put a coat, as it were, by installing two aisles and connecting them with each other.

On July 13, 1394, the consecration of the new church took place. It was solemnly consecrated in honor of Mary, the Virgin. Lambertus, Apollinaris, Thomas and Pankraty were on the side of the cartridges. This patronage kept the church until its secularization in 1805.

Under the Duke Wilhelm I, the relics of St. Apollinaris brought from Remagen to Dusseldorf. Soon he was worshiped by the people of Düsseldorf as the patron saint. His holiday was on July 23, until today an important date in the customs calendar of the city. His bones today rest in the parish altar of the church.

Duke Wilhelm spent a lot of money on equipping his collegiate church with important relics. He achieved thereby, that Düsseldorf became one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the region.

His successors also considered the collegiate church with their favor.

One of the most important works of art in the church was founded in the 15th century by Duke Wilhelm II and his wife Elizabeth von Nassau-Saarbrücken: a mysterious house towering high in a crypt.

In 1609, the dynasty of Julich-Berg dies. 1614 take over the Palatine Neuburg on the Danube here rule, a branch of the Wittelsbacher family. They also ruled in Düsseldorf. In 1634, an ammunition depot exploded in the vicinity of the church. Erupting fire destroyed most of the gothic decor of the church. Only choirs and some smaller figures could be saved from the flame. Count Palatine Philip Wilhelm, son of Wolfgang Wilhelm, supplied the church with today's baroque altars. In 1679 he brought his son, the crown prince Johann Wilhelm, here. The inherited Palatine electorate passed to Johann Wilhelm after his death. Being a Elector, he ruled all of his lands from Düsseldorf.