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Roman-Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany
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Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, pronounced [ˌkœlnɐ ˈdoːm] ⓘ) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. At 157 m (515 ft), the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the third tallest church in Europe after Sagrada Família and Ulm Minster, and the tallest cathedral in the world.
Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248, but was halted in the years around 1560. Attempts to complete construction began around 1814, but the project was not properly funded until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original medieval plan in 1880. The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world.
Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit for its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe". In Cologne, only the telecommunications tower is higher than the cathedral.
Maternus of Cologne was the first bishop of Cologne in around 313. However, Cologne's Christian community, still small at this time, did not gather in a church, but in a residential building, which is thought to have been located on the cathedral hill below today's choir. After the collapse of Roman rule on the Rhine, the Merovingian petty kings residing in Cologne built an episcopal church on this site in the 6th century, which was eventually around 40 to 50 metres (130 to 160 ft) long and equipped with an ambon. This building, which was probably built by King Theudebert I, served as a burial place for the royal family; among others, the king's wife Wisigard was buried here around 537. However, the excavation finds under the cathedral choir do not allow a complete reconstruction of the buildings from the Merovingian period.
Work on Cologne Cathedral was finished in 1880. At that time, the cathedral had a height of 157 metres (515 ft), making it the tallest building in the world – after a total of 632 years of construction. Except for a few centimetres, both towers are the same height. Already in late antiquity, there was a baptistery to the east of the cathedral choir, where the early Christians, following the rite of the time, stepped into knee-deep water and were completely doused. It is assumed that the baptismal font, which dates back to the 5th century, was originally located in the garden of the Roman house that served as a Christian meeting place. Later, the baptistry built above the pool was presumably combined with the cathedral church to form a single building complex, although there is no archaeological evidence of this today. When Hildebold Cathedral was built and equipped with a baptismal font due to the changed rite, only the baptismal piscina remained from the baptistery. Today, this piscina, which is accessible in the base of the cathedral, is considered the oldest evidence of Christian worship in Cologne.
In Carolingian times, the Old Cathedral was built on Cologne Cathedral Hill and consecrated in 870. The cathedral is now known as Hildebold Cathedral after Bishop Hildebold, who was a close advisor to Charlemagne and died in 818. However, it is unclear how much the bishop contributed to the building. He probably started the new construction, which Charlemagne also generously supported. The bishop's residence was originally located next to the cathedral.
With a length of around 95 metres (312 ft), Hildebold Cathedral was one of the largest Carolingian churches ever built and became the architectural role model for numerous churches in the early Holy Roman Empire. It was built in the Carolingian tradition as a basilica with two choirs, with the east choir dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus and the more important choir in the west to the memory of Saint Peter. Through its patronage, but also in its architecture, Hildebold Cathedral made reference to Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was regarded as the St. Peter's Basilica of the North. This was intended to underline Cologne's claim to be a holy city and faithful daughter of the Roman Church. The so-called reliquary-staff of Saint Peter and the chains of Saint Peter were among the church's most important relics. The Hillinus Codex from the 11th century shows Hildebold Cathedral in an unusually realistic depiction for the time. Today, the foundation walls of the Carolingian basilica have been revealed by the cathedral excavations.
On 23 July 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne and Imperial Archchancellor Rainald of Dassel brought the bones of the Three Wise Men from Milan to Cologne, which was perceived as a "propaganda success". The relics had been left to the archbishop by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa from his spoils of war. They had been considered worthy of veneration at least since their transfer. Whether Rainald von Dassel himself or the Milanese patricians should be regarded as the "inventors" of the relics is disputed in academic literature. In any case, between 1190 and 1225, the Shrine of the Three Kings was made for the highly respected saints in Cologne, which is considered one of the most sophisticated goldsmith's works of the Middle Ages; the shrine was placed in the center of the Old Cathedral. Cologne thus became an internationally renowned place of pilgrimage in Europe. To oversee the pilgrim crowds, an office of custos regum ("guardian of the kings") was established after 1162. However, the only narrow side portal of the cathedral was not very suitable for the crowds of pilgrims, as it had to be used as an entrance and an exit at the same time.
Within the construction of the Gothic cathedral in 1248, the Old Cathedral was to be demolished step by step. However, careless demolition work and fire destroyed not only the east choir, but almost the entire cathedral; the Shrine of the Three Kings was saved from the fire. The western parts of Hildebold Cathedral were provisionally rebuilt and were only taken down after 1322, when the Gothic choir was completed and construction of the Gothic nave began.
The foundation stone was laid on Saturday, 15 August 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The eastern arm was completed under the direction of Master Gerhard, was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall so it could be used as the work continued. Eighty-four misericords in the choir date from this building phase. This work ceased in 1473, leaving the south tower complete to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane that remained in place as a landmark of the Cologne skyline for 400 years. Some work proceeded intermittently on the structure of the nave between the west front and the eastern arm, but during the 16th century this also stopped.
With the 19th-century Romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, and spurred by the discovery of the original plan for the façade, the Protestant Prussian Court working with the church, committed to completing the cathedral. It was achieved by civic effort; the Central-Dombauverein, founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of the enormous costs, while the Prussian state supplied the remaining third. The state saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815, but especially after 1871, it was regarded as a project to symbolize German nationhood.
Construction resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but using more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders. Ernst Friedrich Zwirner led the cathedral's construction until his death in 1861, and designed several parts including a chapel dedicated to St Mary and the crossing tower. The nave was completed and all three towers were added. The bells were installed in the 1870s. The largest bell is St. Petersglocke.
The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 15 October 1880, 632 years after construction had begun. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I. With a height of 157.38 m (516.3 ft), it was the tallest building in the world for four years until the completion of the Washington Monument.
The twin spires of the cathedral were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for aircraft bombing during World War II. The cathedral suffered fourteen kicks by aerial bombs during the war. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city.
On 6 March 1945, an area west of the cathedral (Marzellenstrasse/Trankgasse) was the site of intense combat between American tanks of the 3rd Armored Division and a Panther Ausf. A of Panzer brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle. A nearby Panther, a German medium tank, was sitting by a pile of rubble near a train station right by the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral. The Panther successfully knocked out two Sherman tanks, killing three men, before it was destroyed by a T26E3 Pershing, nicknamed Eagle 7 minutes later. Film footage of that battle survives.
In 1944, Willy Weyres was appointed as the cathedral's architect. Repairs of the war damage were completed sufficiently and the cathedral reopened in 1956, the work being overseen by Weyres. The crossing or central tower, completed in 1860 and designed by Zwirner, was severely damaged by the bombing, though remained structurally sound. In 1965, Weyres redesigned the cladding of the damaged tower in an Art Deco style, with the decorative angels designed by Erlefried Hoppe. This, along with his demolition of the war-damaged St Mary's Chapel designed at the same time by Zwirner, was considered controversial, with the modern redesign of the crossing tower being called a "wart" on the cathedral by some critics.
A repair to part of the northwest tower, carried out in 1944 using poor-quality brick taken from a nearby ruined building, remained visible as a reminder of the war until 2005, when it was restored to its original appearance.
To investigate whether the bombings had damaged the foundations of the Dom, archaeological excavations began in 1946 under the leadership of Otto Doppelfeld and were concluded in 1997. One of the most meaningful excavations of churches, they revealed previously unknown details of earlier buildings on the site.
Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in the building, which is rarely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones. The Dombauhütte, established to build the cathedral and keep it in repair, employs skilled stonemasons for the purpose. Half the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the Dombauverein.
On 18 August 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Germany, as part of World Youth Day 2005 festivities. An estimated one million pilgrims visited the cathedral during this time. Also as part of the events of World Youth Day, Cologne Cathedral hosted a televised gala performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir conducted by Gilbert Levine.
On 25 August 2007, the cathedral received a new stained glass window in the south transept. The 113 m2 (1,220 sq ft) glass work was created by the German artist Gerhard Richter with the €400,000 cost paid by donations. It is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of coloured glass resembling pixels, randomly arranged by computer, which create a colourful "carpet". Since the loss of the original window in World War II, the space had been temporarily filled with plain glass. The then archbishop of the cathedral, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who had preferred a figurative depiction of 20th-century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling. Holder of the office since 2014 is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. On 5 January 2015, the cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a demonstration by PEGIDA.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cologne Cathedral”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.