The greatest Gothic cathedral and much more art and history in Köln/Cologne
Written: Jun 19 '03 (Updated Dec 08 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The cathedral, museums, backdrop
Cons: none, really
The Bottom Line: An exhausting day of looking at art and history of Germany's oldest city
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| Jiahong's Full Review: Cologne/Koln, Germany |
The archetype of Gothic spires towers above Köln/Cologne, the oldest major city in Germany The twin towers of the cathedral (dom) are 157 meters in height, higher than anything in Europe built by man until the Eiffel Tower in the late-19th century. The towers are visible as one approaches the city. I tried to drive to them, but between traffic and one-way streets, it was frustrating trying to navigate by aiming at the great cathedral towers. (The Michelin map was little help, but my view of it was not blocked by buildings.)
From the laying of the cornerstone in 1248, it took 632 years to complete the cathedral with a lot done early on then languishing until a burst of work between 1840 and 1880.
Behind the altar is the golden Dreikönigschrein (Three King Shrine) Rainald von Dassel, Imperial Chancellor and Archbishop of Cologne, brought the relics of the Three Kings to Cologne in 1164 (thus, older than its current home, which was in some sense built for them). The Dreikönigschrein is so beautifully crafted that it is worth a pilgrimage quite apart from arriving to marvel at the cathedral architecture or the historical/religious significance of what may be inside it. The treasury has what is supposed to be the staff of St. Peter .
Stephan Lacknar's winged adoration of the Magi is splendid and was echoed in 19th-century stained glass (a gift of Ludwig I). The final resting place of the three kings (the Magi) was used to legitimate the Hoherzollen unification of Germany, so it is not all innocent fun.
The stained glass that remains is more impressive than that anywhere outside France (Saint Chapelle is pre-eminent, followed by Chartres) and the cathedral remains more Gothic than those in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Trier, Basel, Munich (or, certainly, Berlin or Rome). The cathedral is like Tikal in being massive and overwhelmingly upthrusting, more impressive than I imagined -- and (aided by pictures) I imagined it being very impressive.
Gero's crucifix was very important in art history for re-inventing life-size, realistic sculpture, but the doors are more interesting to me.
(The Cathedral is open daily from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Only group guided tours which are arranged by Domforum and KölnTourismus are allowed and none is allowed during services. Surplus tickets are available on the day in the Domforum.
Information:
Phone: 0049 / 221 / 925847-30
Fax: 0049 / 221 / 925847-31
www.koelnerdom.de
One may climb 509 steps to the top of one of the towers, but trying to see everything in a day did not permit the time for that exercise.
The foundations and the side arch of the Roman north gate can be seen in the cathedral square.
The Romisch-Germanisches Museum between the Cathedral and the Rhine lacks the cathedral's impact, but is a model of lighting and display of a large collection (a model that should be studied by those in charge of Vienna's Kunsthistoriches Museum, which has the worst displayed great collection in my experience, though the National Museum in Phnom Phen is darker and devoid of conservation efforts). I thought the most interesting piece in the collection was a head of Medusa, even though she lacked snake-hair. Nowhere else (even Rome itself or Pompeii or Tivoli or Ephesus) have I seen such large Roman mosaics in their original place. There is a lot of ancient glassware that did not interest me, but might interest others. (I was more interested in the priapic statues and statues of Mercurys.)
I was a bit punchy by the time I reached the next museum, the (then-)combined Ludwig- and Wallraf-Richartz Museum (at Bischofsgartenstrasse 1), with its unrelenting succession of masterpieces of European painting. The collection is not huge, but was assembled with great discernment, e.g., Franz Marc's wild boars, a Rubens self-portrait with friends in which the artist cruises bypassers, the atypically serene van Gogh picture of an Arles bridge, some fine Cranachs (I was especially amused by one of the judgment of Paris in which Paris looks totally uninterested in his task), a Dürer of Job as a drummer eyeing the flautist who is supposedly soothing him (this is an allegory of celebrating the end of a plague epidemic, purportedly), a 16th-century Saint Sebastian triptych, many early German masters, a fine pair of Titians, and even one of the few works by Marx Ernst I've ever liked (the Virgin Mary spanking a Christ of about ten, whose halo has fallen to the floor). With all the pious Christian art I's been seeing, a little levity was welcome. There were also many fine fin-de-siècle (ca. 1900, that is) Russian painters I'd never heard of.
There is a Museum of East Asian Art(at Universitätsstrasse 100) with reputedly the best collection in German outside Berlin, but two museums and the great cathedral with its treasury was as much museum-going as I could do in one day. Though my feet were tired, I walked around and saw some historical building exteriors.
The Krieler Dömchen, the oldest remaining church in Köln, erected around the year 900 is on the Suitbert-Heimbach-Platz. There are also twelve other college, monastery, and convent churches within the old city -- which was walled, the Roman northwestern corner tower still stands, along with three of the twelve gates: the Severinstor, the Eigelsteintor and the Hahnentor. The Ulrepforte and restored sections of the city walls can be viewed along the Sachsenring circular boulevard. The old city is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The city hall (Hansasaal on the Alter Mark) was built in 1330. The facade is 16th century)and tower 15th century. The building complex suffered extensive damage during the Second World War; reconstruction was finished in 1972. (Altermarkt).
HISTORICAL NOTE
* It was raised to the official level of being a Roman city in 50 A.D., in large part because it was the birthplace of Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Some of the Roman urban design remain: not only parts of gates and some towers, but the Hohestrasse, a shop-lined street between the cathedral and Neumarkt square.
During the 12th century, Cologne became the fourth metropolis (the others were Jerusalem, Byzantium and Rome) with "Sancta" (holy) in the city name: "Holy Cologne, faithful daughter of the Roman church by the grace of God." Secular power was lost in a military defeat of the archbishop's army in 1288, In 1396, the Cologne guilds proclaimed their own constitution with a mayor and city council, although Cologne did not finally receive the status of a free city until 1475, by which point it was one of the most densely populated and wealthiest German-speaking cities. in the German speaking area. The first municipal university in Europe was founded here as early as 1388.
Allied bombing during World War II was so intense that there were 31.3 cubmic meters of rubble for every inhabitant of the city.
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In addition to this (which I am reposting after SURGRN11 kindly added a category for it), I have written High Culture surveys of Berlin and Munich. The smaller Icelandic cities of Reykjavik and Akureyi are coming soon.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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