That church we saw when we stepped off the train………it was time for a visit.
A bit of information about the Cathedral:
~Construction began in1248, then halted in 1560. Work was ultimately completed in 1860 after funding in the 1940s, literally off and on for 632 years. The completion of Germany’s largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event in 1880.
~The Cathedral is Germany’s most visited attraction for tourists and pilgrims and one of the oldest and most important pilgrimage sites in Northern Europe.
~It is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, and the third tallest church in Europe. Being built from different types of rock which weather to varying degrees, rarely is the cathedral seen without scaffolding.
When American troops entered the city on March 6, 1945, one of the only buildings standing was the Cologne Cathedral. The twin spires were an easy navigational touchstone for the Allied bombers. It endured 14 bomb hits and was heavily damaged, but key parts remained standing.
Immediately after the war, building materials were procured for repairs needed to bolster the Cathedral. Repairs were competed in 1956.
Walking up, the entranceway was imposing.
A number of prophets also line the entrance; here was Moses with the 10 commandments. Hmmm, my photo looks a bit weird and makes Moses have a shortened statue. Yep, the angle wasn’t the best. Next time…………..
One visit there was a service going on and we had a chance to hear one of their two organs.
As noted above WWII saw a lot of destruction……………………some of the windows were saved and are traditional.
A more recent addition is this modern stained-glass window – interesting. Not really sure how I feel about that.
I did like the colors as they hit one of the cathedral’s walls.
This church was built to hold relics from the ‘Three Wise Men’. Sharing ‘relics’ was big business in medieval times. Parts and pieces of important religious figures were shared amongst a number of parties. Back in the day…………………it was a big business to have ‘relics’ for the masses to make pilgrimages to honor said relics. Pieces and parts of individuals were divided up for multiple religious sites for the people.
Whenever we’re in churches, I try to look for things that most miss, like these burial sites that most visitors walk right over. Loved the intricacy of the designs.
Exiting the cathedral this greeted us. Okay, I’m sorry, this might seem sacrilegious…………….but I took this photo right in front of the cathedral. Oh my goodness – not a good likeness. ☹
Actually, I was going to start this post with our evening brewery tour then I remembered the church. I have to talk about the church. I’ve always loved walking into the European churches since most are older than the U.S. has been a country.
Originally, we had a food tour scheduled for Cologne, but Eric got an email that it was canceled. He found this brewery tour at the last minute.
It was a large group and ultimately had 2 tour guides, so we were split up. Our guide was interesting, that’s all I’ll say. Not the best guide, but we needed to lower our expectations. It was advertised that we would be stopping at five breweries, but only beers at the first three were covered. The last two stops we needed to pay. Eric forgot to read that tidbit of info and we were pretty low on cash with barely enough to cover.
The first three stops were Brauerei Zur Malzmuhle, Sunner & Whale and Peters Brauhaus.
Sorry, this photo was the only one from the second brewery. Yes, that is a depection of a while, hence the name.
No photo for the next stop as it was at a mini convenience store – everyone covered their own expense. I didn’t deem it photo-worthy. The last spot was Fruh Brewery, also a restaurant and after most of the group left, we stayed to order food. Let’s talk about the beer.
This is how your kolsch beer arrives. The tray is called a ‘kranz’. The slender .2L glasses are called ‘stange’.
Kolsch was defined as an ‘easy-drinking pale ale’. Most breweries have one single beer on tap and you know that place focused on their beer and care about their product.
One important piece of the Kolsch-drinking culture was the coaster called a ‘deckel’. The coaster was marked with tallies to keep track of how many glasses of Kolsch you drink. Glasses will continue to arrive until you put the deckel over the top of your glass. Take the deckel to the cashier and payment was based upon the number of tally marks. You always have a fresh and cold beer in front of you. Okay – I like that.
I’m closing with a (unplanned) fabulous photo of the church. I sent this to some friends back home and they wanted to know what I did to enhance the shot. Nothing. I just got lucky with the angle of the sun.
One more full day in Cologne and a chance to find the remaining Christmas markets in the city.
Darden Travels 