Cologne Cathedral or St. Peter's Cathedral as seen from across the Rhine on a very wet day.
Work started on the cathedral in 1248 and continued on and off for 600 years.
When funds ran out work was halted in 1473.
It remained incomplete for hundreds of years until German nationalists took on the challenge in 1842 and completed it in 1880.
The City of Cologne was decimated in WWII but the cathedral clergy made an effort to remove the stained glass windows and place them in storage.
Bombs fell on the cathedral but the walls did not collapse.
This stained glass in the south transept is recent, 2007, and consists of 11,000 squares of glass of 72 colors arranged randomly. No sun on this day so we couldn't experience the effect of the mix of colors.
The cathedral's richest treasure is the gold Dreikonigen or shrine of the Three Kings.
The bones of the Three Kings that visited the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem are purported to be in this gold reliquary having been obtained from Milan in the 13th century.
The cathedral is immensely tall and one can't help but look up as I did and take so many photos in that direction.
Dan and I returned to the Cathedral after dinner to walk around it one more time absent the rain.
It is a huge structure.
[Cathedral history courtesy of the AmaWaterways Destination Guide and Wikipedia]
...with two wars in Europe, it's amazing that anything remained standing. This cathedral is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteA magnificent building. I hope your neck was okay after all that looking heavenward! One could spend days exploring a place like that, so many stories to be told.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is an amazing cathedral. The stained glass windows and the height of the ceiling is mind blowing. 600 years to finish. Wow. I have been there but my memory is fading so thanks for reminding me of what I saw.
ReplyDeleteThose are great shots of the Cologne Cathedral in the evening. How interesting that you got the rain too.
ReplyDelete