Watching Discovery channel on Egyptian Pyramids and they said that the Pyramids were the tallest structure in the world until the Cologne Cathedral was built.

And to me after visiting the Kolner Dom (sp?) many times i am not awed by anything in it except i am overwhelmed by its awesome size - i guess until recently the world's largest Gothic cathedral - and lovingly built looming high above the Rhine River that flows behind it.

Now if they just would not have built that railway bridge and huge main train station right on its doorstep perhaps the building would be a bit more romantic

But don't get me wrong - the Cologne Cathedral to me is one of the very top sights in Europe and if going to Germany it is often easy to stop off in Cologne - especially if going by train - put your bags in a station locker and pop over to the chruch just steps away from the station.

Actually Cologne is a very pleasant city too - the pedestrian zone adjoins the cathedral and during shopping hours is always pleasant mobbed - and the Rhine Promenade is so pleasant too.

And ironically one of Europe's largest brothels i guess - legal in Germany - is right near the cathedral and plans to build one of Europe's largest mosques by the brothel have been put on hold because of locals' approbation....

Anyway if heading to say Amsterdam or the Rhine or Frankfurt by train it is so so easy to stop off to see one of mankind's most imposing buildings - and one that once was the world's tallest structure.

For those who have seen the Cathedral what was your reaction - review of it - worth it or not?

Cologne Cathedral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria) is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the ...History - Architecture - Treasures - Church music
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral

Official Webseite des Kölner Doms
Welcome to Cologne Cathedral. Open daily. November - April / 06:00 - 19:30 hours. Mai - Oktober / 06:00 - 21:00 hours. For special events in the evening a ...
www.koelner-dom.de/index.php?id=19167&L=1

Not so sure about the comparison with the pyramides... St Peter's in Rome, for example, was finished long before Cologne cathedral and is notably bigger.

Huh? Yes, indeed. Cologne cathedral is by no means entirely medieval. About one half of it was only built in the 19th century. A fact that is easily overlooked.
Remarkably, though, the plans of the medieval builders have been preserved. So the plans of the 13th century have been used to build the western facade and the steeples in the 19th century.
This is what the cathedral looked like before works restarted in 1842: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...jpg?uselang=de

I took a random photograph a couple of years ago from the top of the highest towers. When I got home I noticed a picture from the identical spot/angle/direction etc was in a world war 2 book I had, it was taken in 1945.

It was a then and now picture. Spooky stuff.


Lovely place too.
Did you know one of the reasons the Cathedral survived allied bombing was because it was used as a guide for knowing where the hell they were as they flew over Germany.

Muck

That is a bit of an urban myth. The cathedral did not survive by anything but structural advantages and luck.
The bombers and the bombs of WWII were not able to miss any specific target on purpose. Especially not with the main train station and the Rhine bridge that close to the cathedral.
The structural advantage was the distance to nearby burning houses and the thick stone walls. Fires/ fire bombs did always do more damage than the bombs. Most of the rubble you see on old photos had been caused by the fire that broke out after an air raid, and not the detonation of the bombs.
This effect can be seen on several photos taken after air-raids where the churches often look untouched, except for a hole or two in the roof.

And it also was not needed for navigation since Cologne is the biggest conurbation on the Rhine river with a mountain range in the background.. that was pretty easy to identify from above.

Oh well for whatever reason thank God it survived somewhat intact and not like the Dresden church that has been pieced back together.

Thanks for the insight, Cowboy1968. I have often wondered how it could have survived.

We have visited the cathedral several times, the last being a couple months ago. It never ceases to amaze me with its size and beauty. I especially love the stained glass windows on the right side. Brilliant colors and large enough pictures to actually make out the scenes. Tours can get annoying with their incessant talking and lack of reverence to the place, but that's pretty common nowadays it seems anyway.

On this trip we had to store our luggage at the station. I have never seen luggage lockers like these before. Once the door opens and bags are placed in, there is a conveyor of sorts that automatically takes them to a storage area down below, sort of like a dumbwaiter that goes up and down. To retrieve, you put in your ticket and voila! the luggage appears. No rows and rows of lockers, just a small area that it takes up inside the station. The rest is all out of sight, and no loitering around. Very ingenious!

Happy travels!

Pal, I assume you already know that depending on how one performs the measurement (inside vs. outside, for example) the cathedral in SEVILLE is considered the largest by many.

As to Cologne...the sheer bulk of the thing and especially as it looms over the city when you approach has always been impressive to me.

Now, if they would just CLEAN the exterior....

dukey - is Seville's cathedral a Gothic cathedral?

swisshiker - yes that luggage storage device in Cologne's main station is one that i have never seen in any of the zillions of stations i've stored luggage in - and it's been there for several years - yet no others yet at least that i know of so may not be the cat's meow?

>is Seville's cathedral a Gothic cathedral?
Yes it is. Begun around 1400, finished in the early 16th century.

PalenQ...You ask if a stop to see the Cologne Cathedral is worth it? YES it is. Last month we stopped (via train) on our way to Lubeck from Brugge. It's really the sheer size of the structure, not necessarily any particular detail of it. Plus there's opportunity to see the extraordinary Gero Crucifix within. Add to that the proximity of the Roman-Germanic Museum and the Fruh brewery for lunch, and you have one great mid-way stop.

Cowboy1968 on Jul 28, 10 at 11:27pm
"That is a bit of an urban myth. The cathedral did not survive by anything but structural advantages and luck. "

Urban Myth it may be Cowboy, but it's one told to me by a resident of Cologne a few years ago when I was there.
This person was the guide that took me up the tower to get my photograph.

Suppose we should ask a navigator from bomber command. Trouble is there aren't too many left. ;-)


Muck

From Wikipedia

"Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete. It is 144.5 metres long, 86.5 m wide and its towers are approximately 157 m tall.[3] The cathedral is one of the world's largest churches and the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surpassed by the single spire of Ulm Minster, completed 10 years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir of the cathedral, measured between the piers, also holds the distinction of having the largest height to width ratio of any Medieval church, 3.6:1, exceeding even Beauvais Cathedral which has a slightly higher vault.[4]

For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument.> This shows that the Discover Program had it right (though Wiki does not say it topped the Pyramid in 1880?)

and the other figures show that Cologne's Cathedral is simply huge in so many dimensions and facets - the biggest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe -not Europe as i thought.