Cologne Cathedral Interior

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Home The History and Contruction of the Cathedral The Cologne Cathedral Treasury Museum The Cathedral Interior The Angels in the Corners of the Choir The Bavarian Windows The Choir Screens The Choir Stalls The Gero Crucifix The High Altar The Jewish Privilege The Madonna The Mosaic Floors The Pillar Statues in the Choir The Shrine of the Magi The Window of Kings If you shop at Amazon, you can support this site by clicking on this link first: Side Chapel with Altar by Stefan Lochner, circa 1445. The Black Madonna	The Cologne Cathedral Kölner Dom Köln Germany The Cathedral Interior The Stained Glass Bavarian Windows The Bavarian windows, donated by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, date from this time.; they can be seen to the right of the entrance on the south side. Unlike their medieval predecessors, who knew of only five or six glass pigments, 19th-century glass painters used as many as forty, which explains the particular colorful mess and luminescence of the Bavarian windows. If the visitor continues past the Bavarian windows to the south transept (the perpendicular space that crosses the large central space of the church), he will find the unusually large carved altar known as "Agilolphus". It was created in around 1520 in Antwerp, then well known as the center of this craft. It focuses on the life and passion (i.e. torture) of Jesus, presented in three-dimensional carved scenes. Everything to do with this cathedral move slowly, and lack of time and money has dragged out the restoration of the carvings for several years already. To the left of the altar, on the pillar at the entrance to the ambulatory (the half circle shape passage that completely surrounds the choir), the visitor comes on a two iron with an enormous statue of St. Christopher, 12.5 feet high. It was probably the work of one Master Tilman, a Cologne sculptor, in about 1470. During the middle ages a daily look at St. Christopher was believed to guard against sudden death. To the right, immediately behind the railings of the ambulatory (the passageway that goes behind the choir), is the cathedral's most famous picture. Painted by Stefan Lochner, it adorns the altar dedicated to the city's patron saints. This large winged altar was not originally intended for the cathedral, having been commissioned by Cologne's city fathers for their council chapel in about 1445. For centuries, the counselors heard mass at this altar before proceeding to counsel business. The end of the 18th century saw this custom fall into disuse, and the altar, a masterpiece of the Cologne school, was moved to the cathedral. Documents dated 1442 -- 1451 mention Lochner several times as a prosperous citizen of Cologne, and even as a counselor. No surprise then, that this major commission was awarded to him. The central panel of the painting depicts the Virgin Mary enthroned in front of the drape embroidered with birds and held up by two angels. Before her the Magi kneel bearing their gifts. The Choir Area The choir (the raised area with the the benches on both sides) is not only religiously the most important, but also architecturally the most impressive part of the interior. Around 1304 the walls of the choir must have been completed structurally. In this year at the latest, a 197 foot high wall was built between the two large pillars, which closed off the choir area and the surrounding ambulatory passageway with side chapels from the outside and the rest of the cathedral. (This area of the cathedral is called the Chevet). This huge wall was not removed until 1863. The interior decoration of the choir continued until the 1340's. Cologne Cathedral Around 1560 The interior decoration of the choir area has a spiritual meaning divided into seven horizontal levels. At the bottom are the carved wood choir benches. These symbolize the world of mankind, which remains anchored in the grotesque realm of fables as seen in the carvings. The choir screens, the paintings above the benches, tell the stories of saints, who had lived in this world and had transcended it. Above them stand statues of the apostles along the pillars and they represent the supports of the Church. Higher up are first the angels making music standing on the canopies above the apostles and then higher still the praying angels in the corners of the arches. In the windows the royal court appears, which surrounds the throne of God. The culmination is formed by the abstract decorative forms in the crowns of the window tracery or frames. As with Dante's Divine Comedy, written at the same time, the levels become continuously more spiritual as they go up, until a nameless, undescribable beauty announces the nearness to God. In the Middle Ages the decoration of the choir was much more elaborate. Open stone tracery screens decorated with numerous colorful statues of saints stood between the choir and the apse (the half-circle at the end). On the south side of the screen were seats used by the priests during Mass. Over the freestanding high altar arose a cast bronze ciborium, a chalice like vessel that held the Blessed Sacrament. On the north side stood a tabernacle, which was a small altar like structure that had pillars supporting a canopy. This was destroyed in the course of the baroque remodeling around 1770. Nonetheless there is more original medieval substance to be found in the Cologne Cathedral than in any other European cathedral choir and what remains there is without exception of the highest artistic quality. The Wrought Iron Choir Screens These were created in 1769 and replaced the medieval open stonework tracery screens. Only fragments still exist of the once extensive cycle of colorful statues that filled the stone screen. The High Altar The high altar was consecrated in 1322. The altar slab consists of a single piece of black marble with elaborate moldings 15 feet by 7 feet and 10 inches thick. It is the second largest altar slab in Christendom and also the largest stone in the cathedral. It weighs 6.7 tons. The sides of the slab are covered with black marble, in front of which a gleaming white framework of Carrara marble provides an effective contrast. Only the front is in its original state. Yet even here, the statues on the front which were once painted in vibrant colors, now appear pure white. Around 1900 the arches along the east north and south sides of the altar were replaced and copies of the original statues were mounted in them. On the front in the center, there is Christ crowning the Virgin Mary with six apostles on either side. On the south side, the Annunciation; on the east side, the adoration of the three Wise Men; and on the north side, the presentation and the Temple. Each central scene is flanked by prophets and saints. The Shrine of the Magi The Three Wise Men from the East play a major role in the history of the cathedral. The most valuable and important thing in the cathedral's possession is the Shrine of the Magi on the high altar, which contains the bones of the Three Wise Men. It is shaped somewhat like a triple sarcophagus large enough for three full size adult bodies or a church in miniature. The reliquary consists of three separate shrines, two at the bottom level and a third above them. Inside, in addition to the relics of the Three Kings, are the relics of St. Nabor, St. Felix, and St. Gregory of Spoleto. Three large jewels on the front end of the shrine signify the location of the crowned heads of the three holy kings.This magnificent example of the goldsmith's and jeweler's art can be admired most closely from the ambulatory (the passageway that curves around behind the choir). In medieval legend, the relics were found by the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, who had also found the True Cross, in the beginning of the fourth century, and brought them to Constantinople, and from there they made their way to Milan. Archbishop Rainald of Dassel, who also served as the Imperial Chancellor, moved the relics of the Three Magi (the Three Wise Men, the Three Kings) from Milan to the Cathedral of St. Peter in Cologne in 1164. During his journey, Rainald wrote to the people of Cologne that he was bringing with him relics of the Magi seized from the city of Milan after its destruction, which were given to him by the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. Rainald entered the city of Cologne with the relics in triumph. The people of Cologne seem not to have been bothered by the fact that the relics and been looted by Barbarossa following the sack of Milan. Nor was Archbishop Reinald much bothered by the question of their authenticity. He was only interested in their symbolism: the possessor of the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men possessed the kingdom of Christ, and became kingmaker himself. From that time on, until the 16th century, every German king traveled straight to Cologne from his coronation in Aachen, to bring gifts to these first Christian kings, as Otto IV did for the first time when he donated the gold and jewels for the front end of the reliquary. Since the Three Kings were the first monarchs to be recognized by Christ's, so, too, the Christian kings of Germany wished a similar recognition. The scholar Patrick Geary has claimed that there was no cult of the Magi in Milan before 1164. The three skeletons taken by Rainald of Dassel from the Church of Sant Eustorgio were unidentified. On his way from Milan back to Cologne, Rainald invented the history of the cult of the Magi in Milan and accordingly identified the relics as those of the Three Wise Men. The reason be hiding this invention was to establish the city of Cologne as the equal of oxen, the seat of the Emperor, by developing a cult equal to that of Charlemagne, and by this means to secure the independence and status of the archbishops of Cologne. Perhaps more importantly still, was that the relics of the Three Wise Men turned Cologne into a tourist center overnight. Alongside Santiago de Compostela, Rome, and Aachen, Cologne became a leading destination for pilgrims. And to this day the coat of arms of the city of Cologne shows three crowns. In preparation for the expected rush of pious visitors, first the shrine of the Magi, the largest and most famous reliquary in the Western world, was made -- and only then was a start made on a fitting cathedral to house it. The larger and more modern Gothic structure was built around and on top of the existing church on this site. Architecturally the Shrine is Romanesque in its round arches and short columns. The pliant loose draperies of the silver figures, following both the form and the movement of the body beneath, resume his style which had passed from Greece to Rome, while they're strongly characterized thoughtful heads, and the spirituality of Gothic sculpture. The reliquary has been attributed to the workshop of Nicholas of Verdun (Nicolas of Verdun) (c.1140-c.1236). Nicholas of Verdon's work shows a new interest in the natural proportioning of the human body, the fall of cloth garments over it, and a type of soft drapery fold called the troth fold style (Muldenfaltenstil), which is smoothly curved and unlike the angular, inorganic drapery normally found in Romanesque era. This drapery style, perhaps first appearing in the Verdun's work, became extremely popular in the years around 1200 in a variety of other works, including cathedral sculpture, such as that at the Bamberg Cathedral, in stained glass, and manuscripts. The sources for these components of Nicholas of Verdun's art are a matter of controversy: contemporary Byzantine art, Ottonian art, early Christian art, and even Roman minor arts cited as possible works Nicholas of Verdun may have studied to acquire these classicisizing elements. On the principal section of the shrine, the Virgin and Child are represented in the center of the lower part, as part of the Adoration of the Magi scene, in which the Kings are shown to the left, presented by the Emperor Otto IV himself. To the right, one sees the Baptism of Christ; and in the upper part, Christ is shown as Judge, flanked by two angels are probably once held Instruments of Passion (tools used in the torture of Christ). On the secondary section, the Scourging and the Crucifixion are shown at the bottom, where between the two scenes, the presence of Isaiah reminds us that the drama of the passion evoked by these two episodes, had been foretold by this prophet. Above the Isaiah, at the center of the composition, is a bust of Archbishop Rainald of Dassel. The upper part of this and also shows the crowning of St. Felix and St. Nabor by Christ - because the relics of these two saints are also preserved in the reliquary. On the long sides, the decoration consists of rows of prophets surmounted by apostles. On the sides of the roofs, the original reliefs in the form of narrative medallions (removed in 1781) represented twelve episodes from the life of Christ on the lower roofs, and twelve moments from the Apocalypse on the upper roof. Thus the iconography of the Shrine of the Magi is primarily centered on Christ not the Magi. The Magi whose remains were contained within the shrine, make their only appearance on the narrow end, in the Adoration, a continuation of the life of Christ cycle. While narrative plays some part, the narrative scenes are supplementary to the overall meaning of the shrine rather than clearly explaining the stories of the saints contained inside. Together with the figures, they enrich the viewer's understanding of the shrine's significance by demonstrating that the Magi took their part in Christian history-- beginning in the Old Testament, centered on the life of Christ, furthered by the acts of his followers, and ultimately destined to end at the last judgment -- that is, if the viewer took the time to work out exactly what the decoration represents. The statues along the sides of the shrine date from 1181. They show on the bottom of the prophets and above the apostles. The front must have been completed before 1209. The back was finished around 1225. Following much damage in many losses the reliquary was restored from 1961 to 1974. The Choir Stalls The choir benches (also called choir stalls) are highly deserving of attention as well, however normally they can only be viewed from the ambulatory (the passageway in back of the choir) through the railings. Carved from 1308 to 1311, the benches are still regarded as the most beautiful in Germany, and, 104 in number, they certainly form the largest set. Their interest lies in the carved figures, which reflect the lusty world peopled by both humans and demons, and the outpourings of Gothic fantasy. They do not strike the eye immediately, as the more outrageous scenes of lust, gluttony and avarice are to be found in the seats reserved for the members of the cathedral chapter group, an advisory group to the Archbishop. The Chapter had twenty-four members: sixteen aristocrats from the high nobility and eight priests with a scholarly background. Each member had an alternate, who also participated in the prayers. In addition there were representatives for the Pope and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who are honorary members of the chapter, and for the provost of the cathedral. The Choir Screens Above the choir benches are large screens covered with a series of paintings. These are the oldest examples of the Cologne School of painting, created between 1332 to 1340. In them clearly recognizable influences from Italy France and England fused together to form a new style. The paintings are executed in tempera on polished chalk background and have a delicate style similar to illuminated manuscripts. Unfortunately the chalk ground and the paint flaked off in many areas. Because they were never painted over, everything that the visitor can see is original. Missing sections were subtly colored in to match the colors of the surrounding areas. The pictures are organized in painted arches. The width of each is the same as the width of the seats in the choir stalls below. The pictures are read from the east to the west. On the south side the stories are: the life of the Virgin, the story of the Three Magi, the lives of St. Felix, St. Nabor, and St. Gregory of Spoleto. On the north side the stories are: the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul, the lives of the Pope St. Sylvester, of the Emperor Constantine and of his mother Helen. Underneath the pictures along the south side there is a complete row of all the Roman emperors (and continuing into the German Holy Roman Emperors) that begins with Caesar over the seat in the choir where the current Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire sat. Along the north side are the bishops and archbishops of Cologne, beginning with Maternus above the seat of the Pope. The Pillar Statues in the Choir Standing on small shelves richly decorated with colorful leaves are numerous statues, positioned at each pillar around the choir twenty feet above the floor. In seemingly heavenly withdrawal, far from all worldly reality, the slender statues seem to converse with one another, dressed in courtly garments and using lively gestures. The statues represent Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the twelve apostles. They were made by the cathedral workshop at its height during the period of around 1270 -- 1290. Above each statue are canopies upon which twelve angels stand each holding a different musical instrument. Over Christ and the Virgin Mary there are only pinnacles. Above the statue of the Apostle Simon (on the south side, to the right of the entrance) a particularly elaborate canopy arises. The statues are made of fine volcanic tufa stone covered by chalk paste and painted colorfully. Over thirty-nine different types of fabric are represented on the statues, covered in gold leaf, all of which can be documented in original medieval fabrics. In 1840 the colors were restored. The Angels in the Corners There were already angels painted between the arches in the Middle Ages. However they were covered up by white paint in 18th century and when they were rediscovered in 1841, it was not thought possible to restore them. Edvard von Steinle was chosen to design and install new angels. From 1843 to 1846 he painted the Angels, still visible today, in the so-called Nazarene style using a fresco technique. The background is made up of patterns impressed into the plaster and covered with gold leaf. The Nazarene style began in the early 1800's when a group of German artists moved to Rome to escape Napoleon. They founded a quasimonastic order devoted to art, and revived the making of stained glass, among other crafts. The Nazarenes also inspired the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England. The Windows of Kings - The Clerestory (The windows above the choir benches). The clerestory windows in the choir of the Cologne Cathedral, with 10,170 ft.² of glass surface, contain the largest series of stained glass windows still extant from the 14th century in Europe. The windows were completed before the choir stalls were installed in 1311. 95% of the glass is original. In the lower third of the fifteen windows, each of which is 58 1/2 feet high, forty-eight kings stand in front of alternating red and blue backgrounds on consoles marked with the coats of arms of the donors. Above them high architectural canopies rise. There are various interpretations for the Kings -- they are German kings, they are the ancestors of Christ -- the most likely interpretation is that the bearded figures are the 24 elders of the Apocalypse and the beardless are the 24 kings of Judah. In the corner window the adoration of the three kings from the east are depicted. Perhaps it is worthy of noting that the total number of kings on the stained glass windows, fifty-one, is identical with the number of members in the Chapter of the cathedral who were allowed to sit in the choir stalls below. The Mosaic Floor Now look down at the mosaic floor between the choir stalls, and continuing into the ambulatory, the curved passageway around the choir and high altar. It covers 13,500 ft.² and was made from 1892 to 1899 by Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach, Germany. It contains names of all the archbishops who ruled up until the date of installation. Behind the organ loft (in the ambulatory to the left of the high altar) the mosaic floor depicts Archbishop Hildebold, the archdeacon of Charlemagne, to whom a model of the old cathedral is being presented. Next, in front of the Holy Cross Chapel, is Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden, who laid the foundation stone for the Gothic Cathedral on August 15, 1248, holding a ground plan of the cathedral in his hand. The last composition before the small organ of Mary depicts the German Empire in the form of a knight holding his shield protectively over the west facade of the Cathedral. Between the choir stalls are depictions of the ages of man and the planets with activities ascribed to them as well as the day, the night, and the year, the earth and the sea and the wheel of fortune. In front of the altar, the pope is enthroned as the highest church authority. In front of him, in the entrance area, the king as the bearer of worldly power. The king is framed by the seven liberal arts, and by four rivers the Rhine, Seine, Danube, and Tiber, and by the main churches of Christian nations. The pope is framed by the rivers of Paradise and representatives of religious and worldly ranks. The "streams of life" which are pouring out of the pictures of the rivers of Paradise and in which fish are leaping, fell around all the picture areas like small rivers. Cologne Cathedral is both a house of God and an extensive cemetery. No one knows exactly just how many people are entombed within it or buried under its floor. The only precise records are of those, mostly senior dignitaries, whose funerary effigies stand in the seven small chapels to the left and right of the choir (the raised area with the the benches on both sides). And while women have been among the staunchest defenders of the Catholic faith, they have played little role either in the history of the Church, or in the cathedral. And yet there are three ladies of high birth who are commemorated in the choir (the raised area with the the benches on both sides) chapels among the graves of famous men. One is St.Irmgard of Süchteln, who died in about 1085 (third chapel from the right). Another is Mary of Medici, Queen of France, whose heart was said to have been buried here after her death in 1642 (fourth chapel from the right). Finally there is Richeza, Queen of Poland, who died in 1063 (fifth chapel from the right); every year a delegation from Poland still comes to visit her grave. The Jewish Privilege On the wall beside the tomb of the 13th century bishop, Engelbert, hangs a stone tablet engraved, in Latin, with a proclamation known as the "Jewish Privilege". Though that word "privilege" reminds us that Jews were without rights, it also recalls the more or less consistent effort of bishops to protect Jews from the consequences of what Christians heard in their cathedrals. The Latin translates as: "We, Engelbert, Archbishop of Cologne, a sure you, the Jewish community of Cologne, that you have certain rights... you need not pay taxes in excess of what others pay. If we find a Christian doing money exchange, he must leave the city: that business is yours. You no longer must pay a tax to bury your dead. You do not have to bury your dead near the place of execution." The Gero Crucifix The Cross Chapel is named for the Gero Cross which hangs above a baroque altar. There is no precedent for the stark and anything but idealized figure -- a Christ exhausted by physical pain and torment, chest strained to the limits of endurance, stomach bulging, head slumped forward with eyes closed and mouth very slightly open. It was carved for Archbishop Gero of Cologne (969 -- 976), and is the earliest known instance of that preoccupation with Christ's agony which originated in northern Europe and is the oldest rendering of the crucifix in the West. The work depicts exactly that moment in which Christ has just died. From the point of view of Christianity, this instant in time is the decisive turning point in the history of the world. Prior to this, mankind lived under the strict laws which God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai; thereafter, in the age of mercy inaugurated by Christ's death on the cross. The Gero Crucifix's dark wood embodies a life-size corpse whose collapsed muscles and sagging torso capture the body's moment of death. To stand in that chapel is to sense the motes in the air stirring with the last breath Jesus took only seconds ago This is the oldest sculptural rendering of the crucifixion that we have today, because the conception of a degraded, humiliated, suffering God in human form, that is peculiar to Christianity, did not become central to the religion until the Middle Ages. Earlier Christians had depicted Christ's as a healer, teacher, lawgiver, or judge. For them, the cross was a symbol of triumph over death, and the crucifixion was seldom represented in art even in cycles of New Testament subjects. Byzantine artists sometimes depicted it after the Iconoclastic period, but always with a restrained and dignified, often rather ceremonial remoteness stressing its sacramental significance rather than the painful reality of a man being killed upon the cross. Nor did they depart very far from Greek ideals of physical beauty in representing the incarnate deity. Archbishop Gero was sent to Constantinople (Byzantium) by Emperor Otto I to find a Byzantine princess as a wife for the crown prince. He returned with Theophanu, a daughter of a close relative of the Byzantine emperor, who married Otto II in Rome on April 15, 972. After Otto II's untimely death she, as regent of the empire, became one of the most important women in the early middle ages in western Europe. The baroque altar around the crucifix is 29 ft. high and was built in 1683. The height of the body is 6.5 ft. and the span of the arms 5.5 ft. Behind Christ's head is a halo made of walnut, decorated with large colorful gems made of glass paste. The beams of the cross, the halo, and the loin cloth are gilded. The hair is black. The Madonna After leaving the ambulatory (the passageway that curves around the choir), the visitor will find another curiosity in the north transept (the perpendicular space that crosses the large central space of the church). In a glass case is a greatly revered, much adorned 18th-century madonna. From a sense of gratitude, many who believe she listened to their supplications donate necklace and rings -- nothing valuable, but touching all the same. Years ago, a thief broke the glass, loaded the jewelry into a briefcase, and made his getaway to the nearest bar. In a drunken haze, he left the briefcase behind, and the barkeeper, thinking it worthless, threw it on the garbage heap. Having sobered up, the thief went to the police and confessed his misdeed, whereupon the jewelry was recovered from the garbage. Next to the madonna, above the door to the North chapel, hanging the "year wands"; following ancient custom, one is added for each year an incumbent Archbishop is in office. Home	Detail from the Mosaic Floor Made by Villeroy & Boch Mettlach The white Carrara marble framework upon the black marble of the high altar. The largest high altar in all of Christendom.