Cologne city at the Rhine's shores – Cathedral

The most large city in Rhineland of the Nord keeps being Cologne -“Colonia Sancta” as they named it in the Middle Ages. Through the years, the Roman Cologne became the most powerful city at the northerm of the Alps. In 1164, Reinaldo de Dassel, brought the relic of the Three Kings from Milan towards Cologne, and this event was the reason for the building of the Cathedral in 1248. The work was finished at the year of 1880, and the Gothic Cathedral was still the highest building in the earth.

Cologne has been three times metropolis: in Classical Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Age. Its History begins with Julius Cesar 2000 years ago. The Roman’s remains are located everywhere, by each step, in the whole city. Around the year 1000, in the Middle Ages, the city bloomed under the rule of the Saxon emperors, and became one of the most important city of the art from the West. Afterwards, was severely destroyed during the Second Word War. Despite of this, it has been taken care of so many monuments, so that its aspect can be imbued with the past and the present.

Cologne’s Cathedral was conceived as the major church of the West. Archbishop Conrad von Hohenstaden laid in 1248 the first stone of this impressive building, which was designated to receive the relics of the Three Kings. Reliquary was started to be built by French Nicolas de Verdun, and was finished by Cologne’s masters. It has the shape of a three ships basílica. This reliquary was made before than the Cathedral, whose construction was finished in 1560, without having finished the towers. The work was concluded in 1880. Today, the towers are 157 meters height, and still they are dominant over the city.

Map of Germany

Goethe and Schiller monument in Weimar