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June 19, 2005
Koln Dom/Cologne Cathedral
The cathedral of Koln is one of those places where you simply run out of superlatives. The picture below in no way does it justice, neither in getting the size of the perspective, or even the glorious colour of the stone and the light from the great soaring windows. A part of what was once the Palatinate, the Archbishops of Koln wielded immense power from this key city on the Rhine.
The soaring nave of Koln Dom, the great length of the cathedral can be seen and an idea of the height can be got from looking at the people. The Statues on the columns are twice lifesize.
This is the seat of the earliest missionary bishops to the German people, and the crypt houses their tombs. Its greatest treasure is the reliquary which holds the bones of the "Three Wise Men", whose mortal remains are purported to have been found and identified in the Crusades and brought home to Germany by returning Teutonic Knights.
The three King's reliquary behind armoured glass at the High Altar.
An unusual feature of this great cathedral is the suspended organ in the nave. It is suspended from the vault by steel bars and accessed from the clerestory walkway a good 100 or more feet from the floor! Definitely not for organists with vertigo!
The narrowness of the nave is deceptive - it appears narrower than it is because of the immense height of the vaulted roof. On each side of it is a double aisle which effectively makes the church at least five times as wide as the nave. The West end is dominated by twin spires - a picture taken from one of these appeared in an earlier post - and the crossing has a decorated turret tower and spire soaring over it. The East End is a wall of glass as the clerestory sweeps round in a half circle to create an Apse encircling the Ambulatory aisle and the coronial chapels - most of these the burial places of former Archbishops of Cologne.
Even filled with school parties, tourists and others, this place has a feel of welcome and holiness. Even for those not interested in the faith that is practiced here still - after 1500 years - the treasury is worth the few Euros to visit, and so is the Roman museum just to the South East of the Cathedral.
We ran out of time here - having spent nearly five hours in the cathedral and the Treasury - so I have the perfect excuse to go back again to see the rest of the museum and all the other sites!
Posted by The Gray Monk at June 19, 2005 10:09 AM