Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne, Germany

1248 - Construction begins

1560 - Construction halted

1814 - Construction began again, increasing funding by the late 40's

1880 - Original Medieval plan is completed

Middle Ages - Renaissance

50.94137977783817, 6.95823848153271

Sandstone and Limstone

External length 144.58 m (474.3 ft)
External width 86.25 m (283.0 ft)
Width of west façade 61.54 m (201.9 ft)
Width of transept façade 39.95 m (131.1 ft)
Width of nave (with aisles, interior) 45.19 m (148.3 ft)
Height of southern tower 157.31 m (516.1 ft)
Height of northern tower 157.38 m (516.3 ft)
Height of ridge turret 109.00 m (357.61 ft)
Height of transept façades 69.95 m (229.5 ft)
Height of roof ridge 61.10 m (200.5 ft)
Inner height of nave 43.35 m (142.2 ft)
Height of side aisles 18 m (59 ft)
Building area 7,914 m2 (85,185.59 sq ft)
Window surface area 10,000 m2 (107,639.10 sq ft)
Roof surface area 12,000 m2 (129,166.93 sq ft)
Gross volume without buttresses 407,000 m3 (14,400,000 cu ft)

Religious

Gothic

Created during the medieval ages this grand cathedral's original architects desire to create a grand sculpture to house the Reliquary of the Three Kings. While left incomplete until centuries further the cathedral would endure the times and tribulations of history. Withstanding countless shelling by the allied powers in WW2 standing tall amongst the flattened city.

Adoring the cathedral's grand entrance intricately designed roofing dwarfs the viewer. On either side sculptures of religious figures stand proud. Pushing through the grand archway a rectangular floor plan holds the structural curvature of the walls and window sills. Extraordinarily open and grand the roofs utilize this to enhance acoustics boosting the faithful voices of the priest of the past. Stained glass windows adored with religious iconography line each rectangular wing. In the center a stage with a grandiose pipe organ hangs high a few stories upwards.

Externally the footprint is a kin to a cross with a curved semi-circle northern wing. The facade continues up the front to the duel spires that reach high into the sky.

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License;

Image 1:© Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Image 2: Theodor Verhas / Henry Winkles - Udo Mainzer: Köln in historischen Ansichten. Wuppertal 1977, S. 71
Image 3: Johannes Franciscus Michiels - http://www.muenchner-stadtmuseum.de
Image 4: Johann Franz Michiels - Uta Grefe: Köln in frühen Photographien 1847-1914, Schirmer/Mosel Verlag, München, 1988, ISBN 3-88814-294-6 Scan by Raimond Spekking
Image 5: File:Cologne Cathedral interior.JPG: Pascal Reusch derivative work: Georgfotoart - This file was derived from: Cologne Cathedral interior.JPG:
Image 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral#/media/File:Plan.cathedrale.Cologne.png

Alyson Schruefer