Cologne Cathedral
In 1164 Archbishop Rainald of Dassel brought the relics of the Magi from Milan to Cologne. Pilgrims poured in, and in 1248 the city began a cathedral worthy of them. It was modelled on the new French cathedrals, but was to be greater than any of them.
The choir was finished in 1322, but work slowed and then stopped in 1473. For four hundred years a wooden crane stood on the unfinished south tower and became part of the city’s skyline. In the nineteenth century, when the original medieval plans for the façade were rediscovered, the Prussian king and the people of Germany took up the work again. The cathedral was completed in 1880 to the original design. Its twin spires, 157 metres high, made it for a few years the tallest building in the world.
Though hit many times by bombs in the Second World War, it survived, standing alone amid a ruined city. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Germany’s most visited landmark, with about six million visitors a year. The golden Shrine of the Three Kings stands behind the high altar.
- Built
- 1248–1880
- Style
- Gothic
- Where
- Cologne, Germany
- Map
- Find it on OpenStreetMap
- Read about
- The Shrine of the Three Kings