(coming soon)
- Cathedral
- Museum
- Hotels
Cologne’s cathedral, the Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria, is with it’s 157 meters the third largest Gothic cathedral in the world (after the cathedrals of Seville and Milan). For eight years, between 1880 and 1888, it was the tallest building in the world. The ground it sits on was the site of a house of worship long before the cathedral was constructed, first as a Roman temple, then an early Christian church. The present structure took over six centuries to build. Begun in the year 1248, the building was stopped in 1510 because of lack of funds. With financial aid of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Archbishop Johannes von Geissel, construction was resumed in 1842 and completed in 1880.
The facade with the twin towers is impressive in its scale and intricacy. Inside the cathedral is what many would consider to be the most important shrine of the western world, the Shrine of the Magi, said to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men.
