Speyer, staircases leading to platform in mikveh

A ritual bath (mikveh) fed by “living water” from rivers, the sea or groundwater is used for ritual purification. In Speyer and in Worms these ritual baths mirror a certain choreography of ritual cleansing. This was a result of debates after the crusades destructions and how ritual purity can be achieved. Around 1110/20, the Romanesque mikveh was built: a tower in the ground, ca. 11 meters deep. More than 30 steps of different heights lead down from the portal – as the way to God is not easy.