Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Cologne Cathedral (Part Four)


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


Deutsch: Kölner Dom
English: The Rayonnant Gothic Choir and Apse of Cologne Cathedral
Source: Own work.
Author: Pascal Reusch
(Wikimedia Commons)


The design of Cologne Cathedral was based quite closely on that of Amiens Cathedral, in terms of ground plan, style and the width-to-height proportion of the Central Nave. The plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross, as is usual with Gothic Cathedrals. It has two Aisles on either side, which help to support one of the highest Gothic Vaults in the world, being nearly as tall as that of Beauvais Cathedral.





English: King Louis I of Bavaria, 
who donated a set of stained-glass windows to Cologne Cathedral (see, below).
Latina: Ludovicus I., Rex von Bavariae.
Boarisch: Da Kine Ludwig I. af an Buidl vo 1826.
Deutsch: 1825: Ludwig I. von Bayern. Ludwig I., König von Bayern, 
Gemälde von Joseph Karl Stieler.
Ελληνικά: Ο Λούις Α' Βασιλιάς της Βαβαρίας
Italiano: Luigi I di Baviera.
Français : Louis I de Bavière par Joseph Karl Stieler, 1826.
Polski: LouisI.jpg.
Current location: Neue Pinakothek.
Artist: Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858).
(Wikimedia Commons)


Externally, the outward thrust of the Vault is taken up by Flying Buttresses in the French manner. The East End has a single Ambulatory, the second Aisle resolving into a Chevet of seven radiating Chapels.

Internally, the Mediaeval Choir is more varied and less mechanical in its details than the 19th-Century building. It presents a French-style arrangement of very tall Arcade and a delicate, narrow, Triforium gallery,  lit by windows and with detailed tracery merging with that of the windows above.




A set of five stained glass windows, given to the Cathedral by King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Deutsch: Kölner Dom - Bayernfenster, mittleres Vollfenster: Beweinungsfenster, 
rechts: Anbetungsfenster.
Author: a.stafiniak.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Clerestory windows are tall and retain some old figurative glass in the lower sections. The whole is united by the tall shafts which sweep unbroken from the floor to their capitals at the spring of the Vault. The Vault is of plain quadripartite arrangement.

The Choir retains a great many of its original fittings, including the carved Stalls, which is made the more surprising by the fact that French Revolutionary troops had desecrated the building. A large stone statue of St Christopher looks down towards the place where the earlier entrance to the Cathedral was, before its completion in the late-19th-Century.

The Nave has many 19th-Century stained glass windows including a set of five on the South side, called the "Bayernfenster", which were a gift from Ludwig I of Bavaria, a set highly representative of the German style of that date.




Deutsch: Kölner Dom - Blick vom südlichen Obergaden 
in den Obergaden des nördlichen Chorraumes.
The arcade, gallery and clerestory of the East End 
showing details of tracery and painted angels on the spandrels.
Photo: January 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Raymond - Spekking.
Attribution: © Raimond Spekking / CC-BY-SA-3.0
(Wikimedia Commons)


Externally, particularly from a distance, the building is dominated by its huge Spires, which are entirely Germanic in character, being openwork, like those of Ulm, Vienna and Regensburg Cathedrals.

One of the treasures of the Cathedral is the High Altar, which was installed in 1322. It is constructed of black marble, with a solid slab 15 feet (4.6 m) long forming the top. The front and sides are overlaid with white marble niches into which are set figures, with the Coronation of the Virgin at the centre.

The most celebrated work of art in the Cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, commissioned by Philip von Heinsberg, Archbishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191 and created by Nicholas of Verdun and begun in 1190. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at the conquest of Milan in 1164.





English: The Gothic Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.
Deutsch: Kölner Dom bei Nacht in der Stadt Köln
Italiano: Il Duomo di Colonia di notte.
עברית: he:קתדרלת קלן הגותית
Photo: January 2006.
Source: Own work, upload to de.wikipedia 17. Mai 2006 by Robert Breuer.
Author: Robert Breuer.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Shrine takes the form a large reliquary, in the shape of a Basilican Church, made of bronze and silver, gilded and ornamented with architectonic details, figurative sculpture, enamels and gemstones. The Shrine was opened in 1864 and was found to contain bones and garments.

Near the Sacristy, is the Gero-Kreuz, a large Crucifix, carved in oak and with traces of paint and gilding. Believed to have been commissioned around 960 A.D. for Archbishop Gero, it is the oldest large Crucifix North of the Alps and the earliest-known large free-standing Northern sculpture of the Mediaeval period.

In the Sacrament Chapel, is the Mailänder Madonna ("Milan Madonna"), dating from around 1290, a wooden sculpture depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. The Altar of the Patron Saints of Cologne, with an Altar-piece by the International Gothic painter, Stephan Lochner, is in the Marienkapelle ("St. Mary's Chapel"). Other works of art are to be found in the Cathedral Treasury. The Altar also houses the relics of Saint Irmgardis.


PART FIVE FOLLOWS


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