Cologne cathedral
It was built on the site of a 4th century Roman temple, a square edifice known as the 'oldest cathedral' and commissioned by Maternus[?], the first Christian bishop of Cologne.
The present cathedral was built to house the relics of the Magi, brought to Cologne from Italy by Archbishop Rainald von Dassel in 1164. The foundation stone was laid on August 15, 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The choir was consecrated in 1322. After this initial rapid progress, construction work gradually came to a standstill, and by the year 1560, only a torso had been built. It was only with 19th century romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages and the commitment of the Prussian Court that construction work resumed in 1842 with the addition of the spires and other substantial parts of the cathedral.
It took 632 years from the laying of the foundation stone to the completion of this, Germany's largest cathedral in 1880, celebrated as a national event, and attended by the Kaiser.
The cathedral suffered 14 hits by Second World War bombs; reconstruction was completed in 1956.
The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Sarcophagus of the Magi, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the western world. See: Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral.
The Gero Cross (Gero-Kreuz) (around 970 AD), near the sacristy, is the oldest large cross north of the Alps.
In the Sacrament Chapel, the "Milan Madonna" (Mailänder Madonna), dating from around 1290, is a wooden sculpture depicting Mary and the child Jesus.
In St. Mary's Chapel (Marienkapelle) is the altar of the patron saints of Cologne with an altar piece by Stephan Lochner.
Other outstanding works of art are to be found in the cathedral treasure chamber.
For a small fee it is possible to climb a spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 98 metres above the ground.
The cathedral is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites.
External links
Out of the giant mouth--
Fall fiery blossoms
In a field at sunset,
Warmed in sun-leavings,
At the creamy hearts of primroses.
Charge the converter, workman--
But the earth.html">earth shall suck up darkness--
And out of these molten flowers,
Drive the fires high,
(Day is at the gates
And look with me, shading your eyes...
Through the lucent haze
In the spirals of fire
A shadowy shape
Like a lily swaying?
III
The ore.html">ore.html">ore leaping in the crucibles,
Sending faint thrills along the leads...
I feel the long recoil of earth
(Dawn is aglow in the light of the iron.html">Iron...)
IV
Here ye, Dictators--late Lords of the Iron,
The blooded, implacable Word?
(Brother in fear.html">fear of the fear of his brother...)
On the brazen, articulate tongues of the Iron
Manacles riven and ramparts defaced...
Ankle chains bursting and gallows unbraced...
Sung to the rhythm of arsenals burning...
Turmoil of metal and dissonant baying
Battering egress through ramparted walls...
Into the holocaust snorting and plunging...
Mighty converters torn from their axis,
Jumbled in white-heaten masses disshapen...
Screeching of steam-glutted cauldrons rending...
Scaled flanks touching, ore entering ore...
In the waltz of the mating locked mammoths of iron,
Mad with a moment's exuberant living!
Hands inexorable, marring
Marvelous wrought of the wizards of ore,
Chords never final but onward progressing
in mad vortices whirling...
Till the ear, tortured, shrieks for cessation
The fierce obligato the steel pipes are screaming...
Where men are fed into the fires
.
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