COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

In XIII century, Cologne was one of the richest and mightiest cities of the Sacred Roman, or to be more precise, German Empire. At that period the city experienced its blossom, and the city fathers faced a very important task of erecting a new cathedral that was supposed to match the city’s status and to overshadow all the other temples in the Empire.

This was also preceded by the fact that at the disposal of Cologne archbishop Rainald von Dassel there were relics of the three magi or Three Kings – Casper, Melchior and Balthasar – who were the first ones to come to worship Baby Christ in Bethlehem and brought rich gifts to the King of kings. The remains of the magi were presented to the archbishop by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa as a sign of thankfulness for military help at conquering of Milan during the so called Second Italian Campaign.

The magi are the wise men, who, according to the Holy Writ, came from the Orient to Bethlehem to worship Baby Jesus Christ. The magi found out about Jesus Christ’s birth by His star appearing in the sky. Jewish king Herod the Great sent the magi to Bethlehem where, according to the Old Testament prophesies, the Messiah had to be born into the world. Being led by the star, the magi found Baby Jesus, before whom they fell prostrate and to whom they presented gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Gospel does not mention either the number or the names, or the ethnic origin of the magi; it is only clear that they were not Jews. Starting from Tertullian, who studied the Old Testament prophesies about “the kings of Arabia and Sheba’s” worshipping the messianic King of Israel, scholars began to see Arabic kings in the magi. Along with the tradition about the magi’s Arabic origin a version spread about their belonging to Persian-Mesopotamian aerial. We can see the magi’s number – 3 – for the first time in writings of Origen, who calculated it based upon the number of the magi matching the number of gifts. Information about the magi’s names – Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar – appears only in the IX century and is of legendary nature. Testimonies remain that in IV century the magi’s relics were brought from Persia to Constantinople and then to Milan, and in 1164 by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa – to Cologne.

Cologne’s masters for ten years made the famous Chest – sarcophagus of the Three Kings – of silver, gold and precious stones, in which the relics of the magi are kept making it one of the most precious sanctuaries of Christianity. Because of attaining these relics, Cologne becomes an important religious center of Christianity and its high rank required building of a new monumental Cathedral.

On August 15, 1248, Cologne’s archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden laid the first stone in the foundation of the Cologne Cathedral, thus, starting the longest European on-going construction. The Cathedral was finally finished only by 1880. Works in the Cathedral, however, have never stopped and continue to this day.
The layout of the Cologne Cathedral is borrowed from the Amiens Cathedral. Not only so, the architects of the Cathedral were well familiar with French gothic constructions in Paris, Saint-Denis and Beauvais. But the Cologne Cathedral is a work of German architecture.

On September 27 of 1322, the chorus of the Temple was dedicated. It was 41 meters long, 45 meters wide; the central nave was 43 meters high. The stained glass windows were 17 meters high.

As early as in the first years, the Cologne Cathedral was already considered a wonder of Gothic architecture, but one hundred years after the first stone was laid construction was interrupted because of Reformation that had begun in Germany. Dramatic events of that period brought Germany into a state of recession.

Disintegration of Germany that followed, uniting of church possessions and numerous wars frustrated continuation of the construction. In addition, time passed and views on architecture changed: Gothic architecture in Europe was replaced by fashionable Renaissance. By 1450, the construction fully stopped.
In the end of XVIII – beginning of XIX centuries, on the peak of then-fashionable Romanticism, in Europe interest to Gothic architecture revived or, to be more exact, a new style of architecture became popular at that time – Neo Gothic style. At that time voices in Germany sounded more and more frequently suggesting to complete this grandiose construction – the pride of German architecture. The decisive role in completing construction of the Cologne Cathedral was played by growth of political and economical might of Prussia peaked by uniting of all German states in 1871 into unified German Empire.

In 1842, after thorough preparation work carried out by architects Carl Friedrich Schinkel and Ernst Friedrich Zwirner Prussian King William IV ordered to complete the Cologne Cathedral according to its original design and on September 4 of 1842 himself laid the first stone.

In 1863, construction of 150-meter high towers began, and on October 15 of 1880 in the presence of German Emperor Wilhelm I grand opening of the Cathedral took place.
But even after that different extra works in the cathedral continued – floors were laid and windows were paned.

In 1906, a tragedy occurred: one of the 24 decorative small towers of the main façade collapsed. After it other little towers also broke down. The damaged fragments of the stone work needed to be fixed once again.

A significant damage was done to the Cologne Cathedral at the times of WWII by bombings of the Allies. After 1945, great restoration works aimed at recovering the damage took place in the Cathedral.

The Cologne Cathedral strikes with its grandeur, monumentality and at the same time lightness and elegance. The Cathedral is 140 meters long and 83 meters wide. All its details and its structure are pointed skywards – an absolute dominance of vertical lines. Skywards, to God, the architects directed their temple; upwards, skywards to God, the hearts of believers entering the temple had to also be turned.

The walls, arch and floor are laid of grey Rein stone mined in stone quarries near Bonn. Huge 44-meter high columns support starry vaulting shimmering above. The grandeur of space is sensed not only because of impressive size but also as a result of intentional change of altitudes. The middle nave is two times and a half higher than the side ones; the nave and the chorus are also of different levels. Daylight pours into the temple through magnificent stained windows colored with different tints by multicolored panes.

Behind the high altar golden sarcophagus richly decorated with precious stones is rising – the famous Chest of the Three Kings – Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

In Virgin Mary Chapel a famous German artist Stefan Lochner in 1440 depicted a scene with the magi being led by the Bethlehem star to Bethlehem, where in the manger on hay the newborn Baby was lying – the King of kings, the Redeemer of the world – Jesus Christ. The huge hall of the Cathedral is surrounded by a circle of chapels. In one of them there is an ancient painting of the crucifixion of Christ. In another the founder of the Cologne Cathedral, bishop Conrad von Hochstaden is buried. One can see many works of medieval art in the Cathedral. Among them are Gothic carved pews in the chorus, frescoes above the pews, the main Altar, 14 sculptural figures: Christ, Mary and 12 Apostles in the fence of the chorus. High, in the upper rows of the windows, magnificent stained glass panes are shining – windows of the Three Kings; while in a gallery of the chorus, in a side chapel, there are stained glass windows called “Biblical windows.”

The entire city is filled by ringing of the bells of the Cologne Cathedral. Among the bells of the Cathedral there is a 24-ton bell “Peter”, which is the biggest operating bell in the world cast comparatively not so long ago. “Peter” is followed by an old bell “Pretiosa” (“The Exquisite One”). Its weight is eleven tons, and it received its name because of the amazing clarity of its sound. By the time of its casting – 1448 – “Pretiosa” was the biggest bell in Europe. It took strength of twelve men to make it ring. Since 1908, the bells of the Cologne Cathedral are swayed to ring by electric power. The other two bells are named “Speciosa” and “The Bell of the Three Kings.”

Huge towers of the Cologne Cathedral can be seen from any part of the city. It was not in vain that the Cathedral was built for 632 years.

The coat of arms of Cologne contains a picture of the three crowns of the magi, which are framed by eleven tongues of fire to symbolize eleven thousand infants killed by king Herod.

Entry into the Cathedral is free. At least it was so in the winter of 2008, when I together with my friends – the Vishniakovs and Ditmar Road visited Germany and admired the Cologne Cathedral, its frescoes, sculptures, mosaic floors and the sarcophagus with the remains of the Three Magi. In memory of visiting the Cathedral I purchased in a small store a silver medal with a picture of the Cathedral and the stained glass windows.