The Marvels of Cologne Cathedral: A Gothic Masterpiece Explained

Delve into the marvels of Cologne Cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece that will leave you in awe. Learn about its history, architecture, and cultural significance in this enlightening video tour. Capture the essence of Cologne's iconic landmark through stunning photography and explore the rich cultural heritage of this historic city.
Cologne Cathedral - everyone knows this superlative building: It is 157 m tall and the world's third largest Gothic-style cathedral with 10,000 square metres of windows and 20,000 visitors daily. Some 300,000 tonnes of stones were used in its construction. Maintenance costs per day add up to around €30,000. Its value-priceless, but because it's unsaleable, it has a book value of €27.

About 100 people from the Dombauhütte (cathedral masonry office) work every day to maintain the Cathedral as Germany's most popular landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "When the Cathedral is finished, the world will end" is an old Cologne saying. Even after the 632 years of construction, work thus continues on God's eternal building site.

Pilgrimage site, valuable art, mysteries
In addition to the often quoted facts, there is also a lot of mystery hidden in the important pilgrimage site for pious Catholics - and plenty of fascinating items for those interested in art and culture. Examples include: Why did it take so long to build the Cathedral? Why wasn't the Cathedral damaged more severely during World War II? How does this massive vaulted ceiling hold up anyway? What's inside the roof? Are there any hidden storage rooms or secret places? And what's with the many windows? Some of it you will certainly learn during your visit, others only in one of the numerous cathedral tours or after some reading of your own. That's because the Cathedral harbours plenty of stories, legends and curiosities.

Material and patina: Why is the Cathedral black?
The Cathedral is made of different types of stone, such as trachyte and sandstone. Many sculptures and canopies are made of limestone.

As a result, the stonemasons and stone sculptors were of great importance - and they still are, because of the extensive amount of conservation work that needs to be done. The black patina has been a characteristic feature of Cologne Cathedral for centuries and is due to weathering, soot and biofouling - and it should stay that way.

The Shrine of the Three Kings and other objects of art
Cologne Cathedral is known for its long drawn-out origins and long period of construction, its building history, which began with the Three Wise Men and ended only in 1880 with its completion, as well as for many important works of art that you can see in the Cathedral and in the Cathedral Treasure Chamber.

The Shrine of the Three Kings, which contains the relics of the Magi, is worthy of mention, as is the 4th century St. Peter's Staff, which can be seen in the Cathedral's underground treasure chamber, along with numerous other reliquaries, liturgical utensils, vestments and manuscripts.

Cologne Cathedral: Windows
The Cathedral's colourful glass windows are especially impressive. They bring a vibrant intensity of colour into the interior. Light-flooded cathedrals should make the omnipotence and closeness to God tangible, which explains the plethora of windows. From the very beginning, Cologne Cathedral was also designed with this idea in mind and today it has the largest window area of any church in the world: more than 10,000 square metres. They not only include coloured surfaces, but also picture windows that tell biblical stories. One of the Cathedral's oldest stained-glass windows is the famous Bible Window, which is located in the central chapel of the ambulatory.

Some windows from the Middle Ages have been preserved to this day, others have been restored according to old sketches, and still other windows, such as the Richter window, were created only recently. The Cologne Cathedral windows, their significance, their history and their partial rescue from the bombs of World War II comprise an extensive chapter of the Cathedral's history and play an important role in the impressive interior.

South transept window by Gerhard Richter: the Richter window
The cathedral window designed by the German artist Gerhard Richter caused quite a stir. Inaugurated in 2007, it sparked enthusiasm as well as criticism. A total of 11,263 color squares in 72 colours were randomly arranged for the south transept window, which was destroyed during World War II, creating an abstract tapestry of colour that changes continuously depending on the incidence of light. The 72 colours are colours that were also used in the neo-medieval windows of the 19th century and thus are an essential element of the cathedral windows. If you're in Cologne and near the Cathedral when the sun is shining, you should step inside and see the play of colours for yourself.