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Things to do in Cologne
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Cologne Cathedral (Dom)
The Cologne Cathedral is called the
Kolner Dom in German, and officially it is Hohe Domkirche St.
Peter und Maria; sits in Cologne, Germany, and is a Roman
Catholic church of great splendor. The Archbishop of Cologne
presides here, under the direction of the archdiocese of
Cologne, and is a famous monument of Christianity. The
architectural style is Gothic, and it is dedicated to St. Peter
and the Virgin Mary. It is a World Heritage Site and one of the
best known architectural masterpieces of Germany and the city's
most spectacular landmark; that was said by UNESCO, an
"exceptional work of human creative genius". The building began
in 1248, and finished, with many stops and interruptions, in
1880, over 600 years. It is over 450 feet long, 265 feet wide
and the two tallest towers reach 480 feet into the sky, making
it the biggest church in the world, and the biggest Gothic
church in Northern Europe. During the period from 1880 until
1884, it was the tallest building in the entire world, until the
Washington Monument was finished. The spires are the second
highest in the world, behind the Ulm Cathedral, which was
finished in 1890. With the two spires included, it has the
biggest facade in the world, and the choir area that is the
distance between the piers makes it contain the biggest height
to width ratio of any medieval church in the world. The church's
early builders wanted it to be the grandest structure anywhere
to contain the reliquary of the Three Kings, and to be a
magnificent place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor.
Although it was not finished during the medieval period, the
church did finally come together as a "masterpiece of
exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the
strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and
modern Europe". Before the current cathedral began, the ground
had been occupied by numerous previous buildings, the first
believed to have a grain store, then a Roman temple constructed
by Mercurius Augustus, and beginning in the 4th century, was the
site of a few Christian buildings that also included a square
monument that is believed to be the oldest cathedral that was
directed to be built by Matemus, the first Christian bishop of
the city. Another cathedral, called the "old Cathedral" was
finished in 818, but burned to the ground in 1248. Rainald
of Dassel, archbishop of Cologne, had taken possession of the
Three Kings relics, in 1164, that Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy
Roman Emperor had taken from Milan, Italy, since they were of
great significant value and would bring Christian pilgrims from
all over the world. They would have to preserved in a safe
place. When the old cathedral burned down, the new one was
started soon after, with the first cornerstone being laid in
August, 1248, three months after the burning. The church was
built in sections, thereby making it possible to use those
finished areas, and still continue on with the construction. The
work continued until 1473, when it was stopped, and then started
intermittently until the 16th century, when it stopped
completely. It wasn't until the 19th century that the plans for
the facade were found and the Protestant Prussian court caused
funding to be found and the work started again. The construction
continued and in the 1870s, the bells were put in. In 1880, when
the huge cathedral was finally finished, the completion was
hailed as a national event, and the celebration was visited by
the Emperor, Wilhelm I. Although the church had some 70 hits by
bombs during the second World War, it wasn't destroyed or
knocked down. Many believe that the twin spires were such a well
known and recognizable landmark that the Allied pilots could
overlook them and thus, they weren't destroyed. In June of 1945,
the buildings were used as rifle ranges by the Allied troops,
with the restoration starting after the war was over and
finished in 1956.
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4711 or Eau de Cologne
4711, or Siebenundvierzigelf,
is also known as Eau de Cologne, a brand of Maurer & Wirtz that
is made near Aachen, Germany, close to Cologne, where it all
began. In the first part of the 18th century, an Italian
expatriate named Johann Maria Farina concocted a new fragrance
and called it Eau de Cologne, meaning "water from Cologne", from
his new home in Cologne, Germany. During the century, it was to
become very popular, and soon a Cologne merchant, Wilhelm
Mulhens, acquired the rights to the name, although the Farina
that he got it from had no relations with the original Farina's
family. He just needed the Farina name to be associated with the
Eau de Cologne name so that he could sell it under that guise.
With the contract in hand, Mulhens started a small factory in
Cologne, in the Klockergasse area and started making his own
version of the famous parfum. Years after, the Farina family
took Mulhens to court to get the name back, and his grandson,
Ferdinand Mulhens was forced to create a new name for the
fragrance, and he chose, 4711, the number of Wilhelm's address
in the city just before the French Revolution. The Mulhens
family sold the company in 1994 to the German Wella corporation,
and the fragrance is still made in Cologne today. The original
Eau de Cologne is made by the descendants of Farina, in their
eighth generation, and the other 4711 is made by Maurer & Wirtz,
that acquired the company from Proctor & Gamble, who had bought
it from Wella in 2003, in 2006.
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Church of St. Johann Baptist
The city of Cologne, Germany
has some of the most incredible churches in the world, with
magnificent architecture and beautiful carvings. The Church of
St. John the Baptist has a leaning tower, and although it was
bombed many times in the second World War, it was rebuilt and
stands grandly today. The church was named after Johann Baptist
Alzog, a German theologian and Roman Catholic historian, born in
Sislesia, studied at Breslau and Bonn, then ordained a priest in
Cologne in 1834. The church was originally built over a
millennia
ago, it has been restored many times since. It is one of the few
types of expressionistic sacral architecture in the country and
reconstructed in 1860 in the neo-Renaissance architecture, it
acquired most of its looks from the restructuring in 1922 and
1923. The awesome light and space dynamics in the side chapels
has created a spectacular sight that never fails to inspire
visitors. The styling is in Rococo, and has many figurines and a
marvelous crucifix that was created by artist Joseph Gotsch.
The city was made the archbishopric town by Charles the Great, in
the year 800 A. D. and it was soon one of the most prominent
cities in Europe. The natural location set between rivers and
the crossroads to Europe, helped the city become so important
and created a wonderful trading center. This also brought the
many cloisters and collegiate churches that are here today.
During the dark middle ages, the area still blossomed since
there were so many pilgrims coming here to pay their respects to
the saints and churches. Currently, Cologne, is the home of 12
fantastic Romanesque churches that were constructed during the
9th and 13th centuries. There aren't enough adjectives to
describe the incredibly beautiful churches and their individual
specialties, they must be seen to be even minutely appreciated;
while many had been almost destroyed by the massive bombing done
to them in WWII.
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