We next turned our attention to the Cologne structure which a visitor is least able to ignore, the Cologne Cathedral. Refraining from ignoring the Cathedral is a popular activity in Germany – the Cathedral is Germany’s most-visited landmark by a comfortable margin, attracting more than double the visitors of the second-most-visited landmark, the Reichstag building in Berlin. And one could hardly ignore the building, even if one wanted to – it’s right next to the train station, and it’s really big.

Standing near the Cathedral (Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus, or High Cathedral of St. Peter), one gets the impression of a structure that’s extremely vertical. It is in fact taller than it is long, and at 474 feet, it’s not exactly short. Its height, 516 feet, made it the tallest structure in the world when its towers were completed in 1880 (beating out the cathedral in Rouen, 495 feet). It didn’t enjoy this distinction for long, being surpassed in 1884 by the Washington Monument with its 555 feet, and in 1889 by the Eiffel Tower, which approached 1000 feet. But the Cologne Cathedral remained the world’s tallest "building" (as opposed to "structure") until 1890, when the spire of the Minster in Ulm was completed (530 feet). In ten years the Cathedral had gone from tallest structure in the world to second-tallest church in Germany. But it’s still really tall, and its height makes for a lot of stairs for anyone rash enough to attempt climbing it (see below).


The Cathedral was for a long time a work in progress. Its construction began in 1248, after an earlier Cologne archbishop had received some important relics, those of the Three Kings, from Milan (by way of the Holy Roman Emperor). It was decided that such important relics deserved a proper building to live in, and planning for the new cathedral was begun. After the start of construction, it seems the work proceeded at a leisurely pace, and even this amount of progress stopped in 1473, with the towers completed up to the belfry level and a giant crane sticking out of the top of the south tower. A little bit of work on the nave continued, but in the 16th Century all work stopped.

Until the 19th Century, that is. This was the Romantic Era, and people became interested in seeing the project completed. The towers were exactly like they’d been in 1473, including being surmounted by the crane, but interest was high, the plans for the west end of the church were rediscovered, and enough money was raised through a civic effort (and the Prussian government, trying to ingratiate themselves with their newly-acquired Catholic countrymen, kicked in some cash too) to restart construction. As mentioned above, the towers were completed in 1880. This was a national event, with a celebration attended by Kaiser Wilhelm I.

During World War II, the Cathedral received a few bombs, but ended up largely undamaged, at least compared to the rest of the city, which was leveled. It is thought that Allied bomber pilots were interested in preserving it as a prominent navigation point on the way into Germany.

Our assault on the Cathedral began with us gawking at its western façade.


There are three doorways on this side of the church. One of the portals (the one on the right) dates back to the 14th Century, but the other two are 19th Century.


We entered through the door on the right and were confronted with the thirteenth station of the cross and a lot of candles. Connie contributed some change and added a candle.

As is customary, the Cathedral has a central nave, and there are aisles on either side.


There are also many stained glass windows. Most are 19th Century or newer, but there are some that date back farther.




The church has two organs, both from the second half of the 20th Century.

We walked around the church, looking at the architecture and artworks. One work, the Gero Crucifix (named for an archbishop), is the oldest large such sculpture north of the Alps.




There were a number of altars in the church. One, the Magi Altar, holds a depiction of the Virgin and Child covered in a large white garment. The garment is covered in jewelry.


A large, elaborate reliquary known as the Shrine of the Three Kings was created around the beginning of the 13th Century to hold the relics that later inspired the construction of the Cathedral.


We continued our exploration. Above the entrance to the Treasury, some gilded rods were hanging from a pole. We later found out that each rod represents a year in office for the current archbishop.





Common to Catholic churches, we found elaborately carved stations of the cross distributed throughout the Cathedral. They were carved in the 19th Century. We’d seen the thirteenth station as we entered, but there were many others.


Following our exploration of the church, Nella had the good sense to return to the hotel to get some rest. But Connie and I were taken with the idea of exploring one of the towers. We followed the signs to the way up and started our ascent of a whole lot of stairs. At first the stairs were of stone and dark, but eventually they emerged into a sunlit area at the base of the south tower. We paused to catch our breath and contemplate the continuation of the stairway, a modern metallic staircase that rose up the axis of the hollow tower.


We continued up this staircase, pausing to look through the many “windows” in the tower.

Eventually we reached the observation level, where there were many fellow tourists, a lot of graffiti, and a very nice view of Cologne. To the east we could see the Rhine and the busiest railroad bridge in Germany, the Hohenzollern Bridge. The bridge was a favorite target of the Allied bombers during World War II because of its strategic importance, but they were unable to destroy it. However, the German army blew it up on their way out of town during the Allied advance in 1945 so the Allies couldn’t use it. Regardless, the Allies were able to make do, and after the war the bridge was rebuilt.

To the south we could see the buildings of the “old town”, mostly rebuilt since the war.



More modern structures were visible to the west, including the 873-foot Colonius Tower, completed in 1981 and used for telecommunications.

Looking upward, we could see the top of the tower, which was reachable by a ladder (though not by us). The view to the north was of the other tower.


The way down led past the bells in the belfry, including "Fat Peter", a 53,000-pound bell which was cast in 1923 and which is the largest freely-swinging ringable bell in the world.


Continuing downward, we followed a long, tightly-wound spiral staircase which had me walking into a wall when I couldn’t stop turning left at its end. We joined Nella at the hotel and rested for awhile. Eventually we went out and found some dinner, again passing by the Cathedral.

We returned to the hotel and went to sleep, anticipating the next day’s activities, which were to include a cruise along the Rhine.