The German city of Cologne boasts one of the most famous cathedrals in the world, a building which is often regarded as the Gothic church par excellence. When its twin spires, which reach a height of over 516 feet, were finally completed in 1880, more than 600 years after the building was begun, it became the tallest building in the world, although it was surpassed just four years later by the Washington Monument, and again by the completion of the Ulm Minster in 1890. It is still the third tallest church of any kind.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Today is the feast of a Saint called Gereon, to whom one of these twelve is dedicated. The Martyrology states that he was martyred “at Cologne … with three hundred and eighteen others, who patiently suffered beheading for true godliness’ sake in the persecution under the Emperor Maximian.” In a famous case of hagiographical confusion, St Gregory of Tour (538-94) enrolled a company of martyrs at Cologne in the Theban Legion, but he does not mention the name Gereon. The martyrology does not mention the Legion (of which Maximian was indeed the persecutor) in connection with Gereon, and there is no detail of any of the legends associated with him which can be regarded as historically reliable. In 1121, a very large burial ground was discovered at Cologne, and many of the “relics” therein came to be regarded as those of Gereon and his fellows. (St Ursula and her companions were also part of this find.) His feast became extremely popular, and in the later Middle Ages, was celebrated throughout Germany and the regions of eastern Europe that use the Roman Rite, as well as in Scandinavia, northern France, and England.
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| Ss Christopher, Gereon, Peter, the Virgin Mary, and Anne holding the Christ Child, ca. 1480, by an anonymous German painter known as the Master of the Glorification of the Virgin Mary, (fl. 1460-90.) Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons. |
The basilica which is now dedicated to him includes parts of an oval paleo-Christian structure that dates to the later part of the 4th century. It was remodeled more than once; Gregory of Tours calls it “ad Sanctos Aureos – at the golden Saints”, which is believed to be a reference to its mosaics, but Gereon’s name is first attested in association with it in the Carolingian period, and it is not known how this came about.
The church owes its current appearance to a project which began in 1151, when the archbishop of Cologne, Arnold von Wied, built a large extension on its east side, and expanded the church’s crypt to match it. From 1219-27, the paleo-Christian oval was transformed into a decagon, and raised by the addition of three floors of galleries and a clerestory, followed by a dome in the then-new Gothic style. This dome was the largest structure of its kind built between that of Hagia Sophia, which was completed in 563, and that of the cathedral of Florence, the last part of which, the lantern, was completed just shy of 900 years later. A baptistery was added to the church in the early 1240s, and a sacristy in 1315.
The façade on the church’s west side.
The apse and belltowers.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons by Jorgeplelias, CC BY SA 4.0 |
This photograph taken in 1896 from one of the galleries under the dome give a good sense of the layout of the church, which has undergone a number of unfortunate “restorations” more recent times. As in many Romanesque churches, the nave, which is effectively all under the dome, is at a lower floor level than the sanctuary and choir, but higher than the crypt.
The interior of the decagonal dome.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons by Cmcmcm1, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
The choir seen from beneath the dome.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons by Johan Bakker, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Remains of frescos in the apse of the choir.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons by Velopilger, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
