The Cologne Cathedral in Germany possesses a significant collection of religious treasures, the origins of which reach back into the 10th century.  This collection of sacred objects has been built up both by the Cathedral's active acquisition of reliquaries, the day to day purchase of ceremonial vessels, robes, and books for worship over the centuries, and by the gifts of insignia from archbishops and Cathedral ministers, and is therefore closely connected to the Cathedral's history.

Ever since the 10th century the cathedral treasury has been housed in purpose built rooms, which, however, were not open to the public.  The collection was put on public display for the first time ever in 1867 in a room on the east side of the North transit.


On October 21, 2000, the treasury was reopened in converted underground vaults originally built in the 13th century on the north side of the cathedral -- that is the side facing the train station.  Divided among six exhibition rooms in total (5000 ft.²), the wealth of the cathedral treasury is now appropriately displayed for the first time.  The "sacred chamber" on the ground floor includes the cathedral's most important relics and wooden reliquaries from around the year 1300.  The most significant pieces are the baroque shrine of St. Engelbert (1633) and St. Peter's crosier, the cathedral's foremost relic before the arrival of the bones of the Three Magi.

At the center of the new treasury is a thirty-two foot high medieval vaulted room, which today is split horizontally by a second vault.  This lies beneath the former sacristy of the Gothic cathedral (consecrated by Albertus Magnus in 1277); today's chapel of the Holy Sacrament.  Gathered on the upper floor are ceremonial vessels and insignia of exceptionally high quality; for example, a Gothic bishop's crosier (circa 1322) and Electoral Sword -- signs of the Cologne archbishop's spiritual and secular authority -- as well as a Gothic monstrance (a vessel for holding the Holy Sacrament) from around 1400, medieval processional crosses, baroque ivory crosses, and a great number of liturgical vessels and bishops' insignia from the 18th and 19th centuries.

At the lowest level of the sacristy basement can be seeing a selection of the ceremonial robes the cathedral owns and further liturgical vessels and insignia, which clarify and explain how the garments and accessories are involved in religious ceremony.  What is called"the library" primarily contains manuscripts from the ancient cathedral library, but also shows smaller exhibitions.  The anteroom, containing the original wooden construction from the shrine of the Three Magi, is devoted to the history of the adoration of the Magi.  In the lapidarium are several medieval sculptures from the cathedral depot as well as the most notable finds from two sixth century Frankish graves.

The ancient vaults show remains of the Roman city wall and columns from previous cathedral buildings on the site.  This imposing architecture and the structures built more recently, together with a new way the treasury is now presented, enables the cathedral's colorful history to come, powerfully, life.