Cologne Cathedral (Part Five)

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

Deutsch: Kölner Dom, Innenraum, um 1900.

English: The Cathedral interior, Cologne, the Rhine, Germany, 1890-1900.

Photo: Between 1890 and 1905.

Source: Original image: Photochrom print (colour photo lithograph). 

Reproduction number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-00809 from Library of Congress, 

Prints and Photographs Division, Photochrom Prints Collection.

This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.00809.

This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The main entrance of Cologne Cathedral.

Photo: September 2005 (original upload date).

Source: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here.

Author: Yavor Doychinov. Original uploader was Yoceto at en.wikipedia

Licensed under the GFDL by the author; 

Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Cologne Cathedral. Panoramic View of Interior

Collection: A. D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library 

Accession Number: 15/5/3090.01537

Photograph date: circa 1865 - circa 1885 Persistent 

URI: http://library24.library.cornell.edu/collections/adw/77480-10160016.html

Photo: January 1865.

Source: Originally posted to Flickr as Cologne Cathedral. Panoramic View of Interior

Author: Source: Cornell University Library

Permission: This image, which was originally posted to Flickr.com, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 18:40, 23 June 2009 (UTC) by AndreasPraefcke. 

On that date it was licensed under the license below.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Bells

The Cathedral has eleven Church bells, four of which are mediaeval. The first was the 3.8-ton Dreikönigsglocke ("Bell of the Three Kings"), cast in 1418, installed in 1437, and re-cast in 1880. Two of the other bells, the Pretiosa (10.5 tons; at that time the largest bell in the Western world) and the Speciosa (5.6 tons) were installed in 1448 and remain in place today.

During the 19th-Century, as the building neared completion, there was a desire to extend the number of bells. This was facilitated by Kaiser Wilhelm I, who gave French bronze cannon, captured in 1870–71, for this purpose. 

Copy of the finials in the Town Square 

(same size as the two atop the Cathedral).

Photo: August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Martinevans123

The 22 pieces of artillery were displayed outside the Cathedral on 11 May 1872. Andreas Hamm, in Frankenthal, used them to cast a bell of over 27,000 kilos on 19 August 1873. The tone was not harmonious and another attempt was made on 13 November 1873. The Central Cathedral Association, which had agreed to take over the costs, did not want this bell either. Another attempt took place on 3 October 1874. The colossal bell was shipped to Cologne and on 13 May 1875, installed in the Cathedral. This Kaiserglocke was eventually dismantled in 1918 to support the German war effort.

The 24-ton St. Petersglocke ("Bell of St. Peter", "Dicke Pitter" in the Kölsch dialect), was cast in 1922 and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world.

"Peterglocke", Cologne Cathedral Bell.

Photo: December 2003.

Author: Randal J.

Permission: CC-BY-SA.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Bells of the ridge turret:

Consecration Bell – 0.425 tons (Wandlungsglocke)
Vespers Bell – 0.28 tons (Mettglocke)
Angelus Bell – 0.763 tons (Angelusglocke)


Bells of the Main Bell Cage in the South Spire:

Hail Bell – 0.83 tons (Aveglocke)
Chapter Bell – 1.4 tons (Kapitelsglocke)
St Joseph's Bell – 2.2 tons (Josephglocke)
St Ursula's Bell – 2.55 tons (Ursulaglocke)
Bell of the Three Kings – 3.8 tons (Dreikönigsglocke)
Pretiosa – 10.5 tons
Speciosa – 5.6 tons
St Peter's Bell – 24 tons (St. Petersglocke)

View from inside the right tower, Cologne Cathedral.

Photo: June 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ziko.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Church music

Cologne Cathedral has two pipe organs by Klais Orgelbau: The Transept Organ, built in 1948, and The Nave Organ, built in 1998. 

Cathedral organists have included Josef Zimmermann, Clemens Ganz (1985–2001) and Winfried Bönig (2001).

Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the central jamb of the main door.

Photo: May 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mathias Bigge.

(Wikimedia Commons)

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

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.

Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/341541

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.

Русский: Кёльнский собор ночью (Кёльн, Германия)

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

Cologne Cathedral (Part Three)

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

English: Cologne Cathedral at sunset. Seen from the Deutz bank of the Rhine.

Deutsch: Kölner Dom bei Sonnenuntergang vom Deutzer Rheinufer aus betrachtet.

Photo: May 2012.

Author: Realjectivity.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral suffered seventy hits by bombs during World War II. It did not collapse, but stood tall in an otherwise flattened city. The great Twin Spires are said to have been used as an easily recognizable navigational landmark by Allied aircraft raiding deeper into Germany in the later years of the war, which may be a reason that the Cathedral was not destroyed. It has been claimed that in June 1945 American troops used the Cathedral as a rifle range.

The repairs to the building were completed in 1956. In the North-West Tower's base, an emergency repair, carried out in 1944 with bad-quality brick taken from a nearby war ruin, remained visible until 2005 as a reminder of the war, but then it was decided to reconstruct this section according to its original appearance.

Some repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in some section of the building, which is almost never completely free of scaffolding, since wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones. The Dombauhütte, which was established to build the Cathedral and repair the Cathedral, is said to employ the best stonemasons of the Rhineland.

The 24-ton St. Petersglocke ("Bell of St. Peter", "Dicke Pitter" in the Kölsch dialect), 

was cast in 1922 and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world. 

A person stands to the right of the bell clapper.

Cologne Cathedral Bell (Peterglocke).

Photo: December 2003.

Author: Randal J.

Permission: CC-BY-SA.

(Wikimedia Commons)

There is a common joke in Cologne that the leader of the Dombauhütte, the Dombaumeister (master builder of the Cathedral), has to be Catholic and free from giddiness. The current Dombaumeisterin is Barbara Schock-Werner. Half of the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the Dombauverein.

On 25 August 2007, the Cathedral received a new stained glass in the South Transept window. With 113 square metres of glass, the window was created by the German artist, Gerhard Richter. 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 Archbishop of the Cathedral, Joachim Cardinal Meisner, who had preferred a figurative depiction of 20th-Century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling.

English: Cologne Cathedral. Looking East from the roof of the Nave.

Deutsch: Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). Blick nach Osten vom Dach des Mittelschiffs.

Photo: April 2006.

Author: User:Mkill.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1996, the Cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. In 2004, it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" List, as the only Western Site in danger, due to plans to construct a high-rise building nearby, which would have visually impacted the Site. The Cathedral was removed from the List of In Danger Sites in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the Cathedral.

As a World Heritage Site, and with its convenient position on tourist routes, Cologne Cathedral is a major tourist attraction, the visitors including many who travel there on a Christian pilgrimage.

Visitors can climb 509 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 98 m (322 ft) above the ground. The platform gives a scenic view over the Rhine.

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 Sir Gilbert Levine.

Cologne Cathedral Twin Spires.

Photo: August 2009.

Author: A.Unnewehr.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART FOUR FOLLOWS

Cologne Cathedral (Part Two)

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

  

The Nave, looking East. 

Deutsch: Innenraum des Kölner Doms - Mittelschiff.

Photo: September 2004.

Source: From de.wp.

Author: Thomas Robbin

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, had acquired the relics of The Three Kings which had been taken from the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, Milan, Italy, by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa (parts of the relics have since been returned to Milan).

The relics had great religious significance and could be counted upon to draw pilgrims from all over Christendom. It was important to Church officials that they be properly housed, and thus began a building programme in the new style of Gothic architecture, based, in particular, on the French Cathedral of Amiens.

The foundation stone was laid on 15 August 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The eastern arm was completed under the direction of Master Gerhard, and was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall, so it could be in use as the work proceeded.

Unfinished Cologne Cathedral, 1856, with ancient crane on the South Tower.

Deutsch: Vor dem unfertigen Dom: Zollverwaltung "Am Bollwerk" mit achteckigem Zinnenturm.

Source: Uta Grefe: Köln in frühen Photographien 1847-1914, 

Schirmer/Mosel Verlag, München, 1988, ISBN 3-88814-294-6.

Scan by Raymond Disc. - Raimond Spekking.

Author: Johann Franz Michiels (1823 - 1887).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Eighty-four misericords, in the Choir, date from this building phase. In the Mid-14th-Century, work on the West Front commenced under Master Michael. This work halted in 1473, leaving the South Tower complete up to the Belfry level, and crowned with a huge crane, which was destined to remain in place, and 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 ceased.

With the 19th-Century romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, and spurred on by the lucky discovery of the original plan for the façade, it was decided, with the commitment of the Protestant Prussian Court, to complete the Cathedral.

It was achieved by civic effort; the Central-Dombauverein, founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of the enormous costs (over US$ 1 billion in today's money), 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.

Work resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving Mediaeval plans and drawings, but utilising more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders. The Nave was completed and the Towers were added. The Bells were installed in the 1870s.

The completion of Germany's largest Cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, six hundred and thirty-two years after construction had begun. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I.

The completed Cologne Cathedral in 1911.

Author: Max Hasak (1856-1934).

Year of publication: 1911.

Source: Deutsch: Der Scan wurde anhand einer originalen Buchvorlage vorgenommen.

Source: English: scan from original book.

Source: Nederlands: Scan van het originele boek.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Author: Max Hasak (1856-1934).

Year of publication: 1911.

Source: Deutsch: Der Scan wurde anhand einer originalen Buchvorlage vorgenommen.

Source: English: scan from original book.

Source: Nederlands: Scan van het originele boek.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Altarpiece of the Three Kings, Cologne Cathedral, 

by Stephan Lochner (circa 1500).

Permission: PDArt.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART THREE FOLLOWS

Cologne Cathedral (Part One)

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

English: Panoramic view of the old town of Cologne (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) 

taken from the other side of the River Rhine at dusk (09:58pm).

French: Vue panoramique de la vieille ville de Cologne, en (Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie (Allemagne), prise depuis l'autre rive du Rhin au crépuscule (21h58).

Català: Vista panoràmica de la ciutat vella de Colònia presa des de l'altra banda del Rin.

German: Panorama-Aufnahme des Kölner Altstadtufers bei Abenddämmerung 

(gegen 21:58 Uhr) von der anderen Rheinseite aus. 

Photo: March 2009.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Author: Ahgee.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus, English: High Cathedral of St. Peter) is a Roman Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany. It is the Seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. 

It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th-Century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall.

The Cathedral is the largest Gothic Church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest façade of any Church in the world. The Choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any Mediaeval Church.

Cologne's Mediaeval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of The Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the Mediaeval 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 Mediaeval- and Modern-Europe".

English: Cologne Cathedral, from the South-East (2007).

Deutsch: Kölner Dom, Ansicht von Südosten (2007).

Photo: November 2007.

Author: original by FJK71, updated by Tetraktys.

(Wikimedia Commons)

When the present Cologne Cathedral was commenced in 1248, the site had been occupied by several previous structures, the earliest of which may have been a grain store, perhaps succeeded by a Roman temple built by Mercurius Augustus. 

From the 4th-Century, the site was occupied by Christian buildings, including a square edifice known as the "Oldest Cathedral" and commissioned by Maternus, the first Christian Bishop of Cologne. 

A free-standing Baptistry, from the 6th-Century, was located at the East End of the Cathedral. The Baptistry was demolished to build the old Cathedral in the 9th-Century. Now, only the ruins of the Baptistry and the octagonal Baptismal Font remain. 

The second Church, the so-called "Old Cathedral", was completed in 818 A.D. This was destroyed by fire on 30 April 1248, during demolition in preparation for the new Cathedral.

English: The Gothic Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.

Deutsch: Kölner Dom bei Nacht in der Stadt Köln.

Italiano: Il Duomo di Colonia di notte.

Русский: Кёльнский собор ночью (Кёльн, Германия).

Photo: January 2006.

Own work, uploaded to de.wikipedia 17. Mai 2006 by Robert Breuer.

Author: Robert Breuer.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART TWO FOLLOWS