Editing Cologne Cathedral (section)

== Building history of the Gothic cathedral ==

=== Medieval beginning ===

The [[foundation stone]] was laid on Saturday, 15&nbsp;August 1248, by Archbishop [[Konrad von Hochstaden]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cologne.de/what-to-do/the-cologne-cathedral.html |title=The Cologne Cathedral |publisher=Cologne.de |access-date=1 May 2018 |archive-date=1 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501225010/https://www.cologne.de/what-to-do/the-cologne-cathedral.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The eastern arm was completed under the direction of [[Master Gerhard]], was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall so it could be used as the work continued. Eighty-four [[misericord]]s in the [[Choir (architecture)|choir]] date from this building phase.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}. This work ceased in 1473, leaving the south tower complete to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane that remained in place as a landmark of the Cologne skyline for 400 years.<ref>Wim Swaan</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}} Some work proceeded intermittently on the structure of the [[nave]] between the west front and the eastern arm, but during the 16th century this also stopped.<ref>Wim Swaan gives the latest date as 1560, but a date of 1520 is considered more probable by other scholars.</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" widths="100">
File:Botanischer-Garten-am-Dom-um-1820.JPG|The unfinished cathedral in 1820, engraved by [[Henry Winkles]]. The huge crane on the tower of the cathedral is visible in the picture.
File:Johannesfranciscus-Michiels bau-des-doms-koeln-1855.jpg|The unfinished cathedral in 1855. The medieval crane was still in place, while constructions for the [[nave]] had been resumed earlier in 1814.
File:Rheinpanorama 1856 detail Dom.jpg|The unfinished cathedral in 1856. The east end had been finished and roofed, while other parts of the building are in various stages of construction.
</gallery>

=== 19th-century completion ===
[[File:Kolner Dom kurz vor der Fertigstellung 1880.jpg|thumb|left|The cathedral in 1880, nearing the end of its construction.]]
With the 19th-century [[German Romanticism|Romantic enthusiasm]] for the [[Middle Ages]], and spurred by the discovery of the original plan for the façade, the Protestant [[Prussia]]n Court working with the church, committed to complete the cathedral. It was achieved by civic effort; the ''[[Central-Dombauverein]]'', founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of the enormous costs, while the Prussian state supplied the remaining third.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}<!--The actual cost in the contemporary local currency needs to be referenced.--> The state 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gilley |first1=Sheridan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvvzlLf9dFEC&q=prussia+rebuilding+cologne+cathedral&pg=PA114 |title=The Cambridge History of Christianity |volume=8, ''World Christianities c. 1815–c. 1914'' |last2=Stanley |first2=Brian |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81456-0 |page=114 |language=en}}</ref>

Work resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but using more modern construction techniques, including iron roof [[girder]]s. The nave was completed and the towers were added. The bells were installed in the 1870s. The largest bell is ''[[St. Petersglocke]]''.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 15&nbsp;October 1880, 632 years after construction had begun.<ref name="London1881">{{cite book |editor=Godwin, George |editor-link=George Godwin |title=The Builder |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125007023357/page/n4/mode/1up |access-date=18 January 2024 |year=1881 |publisher=[s.n.] |page=419}}</ref> The celebration was attended by Emperor [[Wilhelm I of Germany|Wilhelm&nbsp;I]]. With a height of {{cvt|157.38|m}}, it was the tallest building in the world for four years until the completion of the [[Washington Monument]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cologne-Cathedral |first=Robert |last=Lewis |title=Cologne Cathedral |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=13 September 2017 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-date=16 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816005027/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cologne-Cathedral |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== World War II and post-war history ===

The twin spires of the cathedral were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 March 2020 |title=In the Ruins of Cologne |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ruins-cologne |access-date=28 December 2023 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en |archive-date=7 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307172628/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ruins-cologne |url-status=live }}</ref> The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by [[Bombing of Cologne in World War II|aerial bombs]] during the war. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city.

On 6 March 1945, an area west of the cathedral (Marzellenstrasse/Trankgasse) was the site of intense combat between American tanks of the [[3rd Armored Division (United States)|3rd Armored Division]] and a [[Panther Tank|Panther Ausf. A]] of [[Panzer brigade]] 106 Feldherrnhalle. A nearby Panther, a German medium tank, was sitting by a pile of rubble near a train station right by the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral. The Panther successfully knocked out two [[M4 Sherman|Sherman]] tanks, killing three men, before it was destroyed by a [[M26 Pershing|T26E3 Pershing]], nicknamed Eagle 7, minutes later. Film footage of that battle survives.<ref>{{cite web | title=Clash of Heavy Tanks at Cologne | url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/clash-of-heavy-tanks-at-cologne/ | work=Warfare History Network | author=Christopher Miskimon | date=November 2019 | access-date=28 October 2024 | archive-date=15 November 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241115100540/https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/clash-of-heavy-tanks-at-cologne/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Repairs of the war damage were completed in 1956. A [[Cologne Cathedral Seal|repair to part of the northwest tower]], carried out in 1944 using poor-quality brick taken from a nearby ruined building, remained visible as a reminder of the war until 2005, when it was restored to its original appearance.

To investigate whether the bombings had damaged the foundations of the Dom, archaeological excavations began in 1946 under the leadership of [[:de:Otto Doppelfeld|Otto Doppelfeld]] and were concluded in 1997. One of the most meaningful excavations of churches, they revealed previously unknown details of earlier buildings on the site.<ref>Klaus Gereon Beuckers: Der Kölner Dom, Darmstadt 2004, S. 113.</ref>

Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in the building, which is rarely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones. The ''Dombauhütte'', established to build the cathedral and keep it in repair, employs skilled stonemasons for the purpose. Half the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the [[Dombauverein]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200" widths="200">
File:Hasak - Der Dom zu Köln - Bild 02 Westseite.jpg|The west front of the completed cathedral in 1911
File:Warning sign in cologne.jpg|US soldier and destroyed [[Panther tank]], 4 April 1945
File:KAS-Verteidigungsbeitrag-Bild-14612-1.jpg|alt=Anti-Soviet propaganda poster featuring a Soviet soldier in front of the Cologne Cathedral to encourage West German public opinion in favor of rearmament|Anti-Soviet propaganda poster, early 1950s
</gallery>

=== 21st century ===
On 18&nbsp;August 2005, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Germany, as part of [[World Youth Day 2005]] festivities. An estimated one million pilgrims visited the cathedral during this time. Also as part of the events of World Youth Day, Cologne Cathedral hosted a televised gala performance of [[Beethoven]]'s [[Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa Solemnis]], performed by the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] and the [[London Philharmonic Choir]] conducted by [[Gilbert Levine]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2005/august/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20050818_cologne-cathedral.html |title=Apostolic Journey to Cologne: Visit to the Cathedral of Cologne |date=18 August 2005 |access-date=15 January 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226165139/https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2005/august/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20050818_cologne-cathedral.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 25 August 2007, the cathedral received a [[Cologne Cathedral Window|new stained glass window]] in the south [[transept]]. The {{cvt|113|m2}} glass work was created by the German artist [[Gerhard Richter]] with the €400,000 cost paid by donations. It is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of coloured glass resembling [[pixel]]s, randomly arranged by computer, which create a colourful "carpet". Since the loss of the original window in World War II, the space had been temporarily filled with plain glass.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/neugestaltetes-fenster-gerhard-richter-digitalisiert-koelner-dom-a-501994.html |title=Gerhard Richter digitalisiert Kölner Dom |trans-title=Gerhard Richter digitizes Cologne Cathedral |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]] |language=de |date=25 August 2007 |agency=[[Deutsche Presse-Agentur]] |access-date=17 February 2019 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405041017/https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/neugestaltetes-fenster-gerhard-richter-digitalisiert-koelner-dom-a-501994.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The then archbishop of the cathedral, [[Joachim Meisner|Cardinal Joachim Meisner]], who had preferred a figurative depiction of 20th-century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling.<ref>{{cite news |issn=0362-4331 |last=Fortini |first=Amanda |title=Pixelated Stained Glass |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=12 January 2008 |date=9 December 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09pixelated.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin |archive-date=13 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613083729/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09pixelated.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin |url-status=live }}</ref> Holder of the office since 2014 is Cardinal [[Rainer Maria Woelki]].
On 5&nbsp;January 2015, the cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a demonstration by [[PEGIDA]].<ref name=bbc>{{cite news |title=Germany Pegida protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30685842 |access-date=7 January 2015 |work=BBC News |date=6 January 2015 |quote=In Cologne, the authorities switched off the lights of the city's cathedral as a way of warning Pegida supporters they were supporting 'extremists'. 'We don't think of it as a protest, but we would like to make the many conservative Christians [who support Pegida] think about what they are doing,' the dean of the cathedral, Norbert Feldhoff, told the BBC. |archive-date=6 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106201422/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30685842 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Antisemitic and Jewish-Christian art ====
In the 2000s, the cathedral chapter began to investigate and critique antisemitic imagery within some of the cathedral's artifacts.<ref name=":0">{{Cite press release |title=The Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition: Invitation competition as a cooperative dialogue procedure on Christian-Jewish Relations Today |date=7 July 2024 |publisher=Metropolitankapitel der Hohen Domkirche Köln |url=https://api.koelner-dom.de/uploads/2407_KW_Cologne_Cathedral_EN_9c90f29f5c.pdf}}</ref> This movement began with outside artists who publicly called for the cathedral to reckon with its antisemitic imagery. In 2002, the Melanchthon Akademie held a conference on this topic, and the performance artist Wolfram Kastner specifically protested the [[Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral|Judensau]] imagery carved into the cathedral's choir stalls.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Antijüdisches Relief darf an Kirche bleiben: Interview mit Dr. Martin Bock zu BGH-Urteil |url=https://www.kkk-nord.de/antijuedisches-relief-darf-an-kirche-bleiben-interview-mit-dr-martin-bock-zu-bgh-urteil/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Evangelisch Leben Im Kirchenkreis Köln-Nord |language=de}}</ref> Kastner and fellow artist Günter Wangerin protested further over the next few years, demanding the installation of an educational sign for the carving, as well as the removal of stone swastika carvings.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gannott |first=Susanne |date=2005-11-19 |title=Sauerei im Dom |url=https://taz.de/!515476/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=taz.de |language=de}}</ref> In 2006, the Karl Rahner Academie and cathedral administration held a colloquium to discuss potential actions, and in 2017 the cathedral chapter created a working group in partnership with the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation. The translated title of the cathedral's working group is "The Cathedral and 'the Jews'."<ref name=":0" />

As of 2024, the working group opted to leave all the antisemitic art in place, not removing or modifying it, but also not hiding it. The stated intention behind this choice was to allow interested viewers to learn more about the antisemitic content of the art by viewing it in its original place and having the ability to inspect it closely.<ref name=":0" /> The cathedral offers dedicated guided tours for studying and critiquing these artifacts. However, members of the working group wanted all of the cathedral's visitors, not just a highly-motivated subset, to consider how the cathedral's art portrays Jewish-Christian relationships.<ref name=":1" /> The working group decided to challenge existing antisemitic artwork by adding prominent new art to the cathedral. In August 2023, the working group launched the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition, calling for a new permanent artwork that openly acknowledged the full history of Jewish-Christian relations while focusing on their present and future.<ref name=":2">{{Cite press release |title=Winning Proposal Chosen in Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition |date=3 April 2025 |publisher=Kölner Dom |url=https://api.koelner-dom.de/uploads/Presse_Release_English_c006072fbe.pdf |access-date=7 April 2025}}</ref> The competition rejected seven nominated artists because they had signed open letters criticizing Israel's actions in Gaza or calling for boycotts. This echoed a broader debate in Germany over how cultural institutions should handle artists' response to the conflict, and the balance between enabling artists' speech and combating antisemitism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=2023-12-07 |title=German Cultural Scene Navigates a Clampdown on Criticism of Israel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/arts/design/germany-arts-cancellations-israel-palestinians.html |access-date=2025-05-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On 3 April 2025, the cathedral chapter announced that [[Andrea Büttner]] had won the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition, with her proposed mural for the wall of the Chapel of St. Mary. Her mural will include a life-size realistic painting of the stone base of the [[Torah ark]] from a previous synagogue in Cologne, painted to float above the existing [[Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece (Lochner)|Altarpiece of the Patron Saints of Cologne]]. The art is designed to counter the overwriting of [[History of the Jews in Cologne|Jewish history]]: after a [[pogrom]] in Cologne, the Torah ark was damaged and removed, its synagogue replaced with a chapel, and the base of the ark was used to support the Altarpiece of the Patron Saints of Cologne where it originally sat in the new chapel. Büttner stated that she wanted her piece to "take something that has been hidden from the cathedral's visitors up to now and have it openly displayed in a central location."<ref name=":2" />

===World Heritage Site===
[[File:2010-09 Ausschnitt Kölner Dom2 (MF).JPG|thumb|Cologne Cathedral on the banks of Rhine|upright=1.2]]
In 1996, the cathedral was added to the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage List]] of culturally important sites.<ref name="UNESCO World Heritage" /> In 2004, it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list, as the only Western site in danger, due to plans to construct several high-rise buildings nearby, which would have visually impacted the site.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/71/ |title=World Heritage Committee sounds the alarm for Cologne Cathedral |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622161257/http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/71/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/cologne-cathedral-on-unesco-danger-list/a-1256794 |title=Cologne Cathedral on UNESCO Danger List |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |language=en-GB |date=6 July 2004 |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407161743/https://www.dw.com/en/cologne-cathedral-on-unesco-danger-list/a-1256794 |url-status=live }}</ref> The cathedral was removed from the "in danger" list in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the cathedral.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/unesco-removes-cologne-cathedral-from-endangered-list/a-2085828 |title=UNESCO Removes Cologne Cathedral From Endangered List |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |language=en-GB |date=11 July 2006 |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407161745/https://www.dw.com/en/unesco-removes-cologne-cathedral-from-endangered-list/a-2085828 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a World Heritage Site and host to the [[Shrine of the Three Kings]], Cologne Cathedral is a major attraction for tourists and pilgrims, and is one of the oldest and most important pilgrimage sites of Northern Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thecompletepilgrim.com/cologne-cathedral/ |title=Cologne Cathedral |date=1 June 2014 |website=The Complete Pilgrim – Religious Travel Sites |language=en-US |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407162321/https://thecompletepilgrim.com/cologne-cathedral/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Visitors can climb 533 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about {{cvt|100|m|ft}} above the ground.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cologne-tourism.com/attractions-culture/cologne-cathedral/cathedral-south-tower.html |title=Cathedral South Tower |website=www.cologne-tourism.com |access-date=7 March 2017 |archive-date=7 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307211717/http://www.cologne-tourism.com/attractions-culture/cologne-cathedral/cathedral-south-tower.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The platform gives a scenic view over the [[Rhine]].