Cologne - Cathedral

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

A Roman temple existed here in Roman times, but from th3 4th century on, the site was occupied by Christian buildings.

The foundation stone of the Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) was laid on 15 August 1248. The eastern arm was completed and got consecrated in 1322. In 1473 the works came to a halt, leaving the south tower complete up to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane for the next 400 years.

After the original plans for the façade had been found in Darmstadt and Paris 1814/1816 it was decided to complete the cathedral. Two thirds of the costs were raised by civic efforts, while the remaining costs were covered by the Prussian state. The state saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815, when the Catholic Rhineland was added to the Protestant Prussian Kingdom.

In 1842 Frederick William IV of Prussia and Johannes von Geissel, later archbishop of Cologne, laid the foundation stone for the completion. In 1880, 632 years after construction had begun, the Cologne Cathedral was completed. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I.

The design of Cologne Cathedral was based quite closely on that of Amiens Cathedral. As it is a Gothic cathedral, the plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross with two aisles on either side. The window surface area is about 10.000m², About 1.500m² of these are medieval. The oldest is from 1260.

The "Richter-Fenster" named after the artist Gerhard Richter, who created it, is the youngest. In 1863 a window with the depiction of secular and Christian rulers had been installed here, donated by the Kingdom of Prussia. This windows was destroyed in World War II and got replaced by a colourless ornamental window in 1948, that soon needed restauration. In 2006 Gerhard Richter (* 1932) got comissioned by the chapter to created the window seen here.

On a surface of 106m² there are 11.263 glass squares in 72 colours. These square are randomly arranged. This window was very disputed! The archbishop, who is not a member of the chapter, did not like it at all. Most others did - and do. It creates a wonderful light.