Cologne - Cathedral

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

The "Kölner Dom" (Cologne Cathedral) seen from the Rheinauhafen.

The cathedral was planned as a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Magi. The relics of the "Three Holy Kings" had been stolen from Milano by Archbishop Rainald von Dassel when his friend and confidante of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa looted and destroyed Milano in 1164.

The construction of the cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560 unfinished. Work did not restart until the 1840s, and the cathedral was completed to its original medieval plan in 1880.

After the original plan for the facade had been found in 1814 and 1816, it was decided, with the commitment of the Protestant Prussian Court, to complete the cathedral. The Central-Dombauverein, founded in 1842 for fundraising, was able to collect two-thirds, so the the Prussian state supplied the remaining third.

The Prussians saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815, but especially after 1871, it was regarded as a project to symbolize German nationhood.

With a height of about 157 m., the cathedral was the highest building on the planet for a short while. The Washington Monument, completed in 1884, took over that position with 169m.