The Basilica of Sankta Maria ‘im Kapitol’ in Cologne (Part 2)

Continuing our series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, this is the second article on the city’s principal church of the Virgin Mary, Sankta Maria ‘im Kapitol’. The first post was published last week, and covered the architectural structure, so this one will show the church’s most notable artistic works, with one exception, which I am leaving until Advent, a wooden door made at the time of its original construction, ca. 1060 AD. (Images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

A stained-glass window in the north wall, with St James the Apostle on the left, and then hometown heroes Ss Ursula (middle) and Gereon, both of whom have churches of their own in the city. Dated after 1510.

The Crucifixion, with St Hubert, the Virgin Mary, Ss John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalen (at the foot of the Cross), St Jerome (right), and the donors in the lower section, William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg (1475-1511) on the left, and his wife Sibilla of Brandenburg and their daughter Mary. Made after 1510.

Another of St James the Apostle, 16th century

A 16 century carving of the burial of Christ in painted sandstone.

An old Romanesque stylophore, i.e. a base designed to hold up a column, very often part of an external porch. Lions were popular for these all over Europe, and before the 12th century, often look like large grinning cats, since they were extinct in Europe, and most of the artists had never seen one.  

He and his buddy now stand guard at the door to the parish hall.

These are the bones of an bowhead whale which sometime towards the end of the last ice age (ca. 11,500 BC) got lost in a branch of the Rhine and died there. There were discovered centuries ago during a construction project, and hung on the wall over one of the confessionals.

A Crucifix carved out of walnut in the early 14th century, which retains the paint applied to it in the 15th.

Another stained-glass window of the Crucifixion, made in the 1460s, but later painted over.

The chapel in which it stands, made by a family called Hardenrath.

This carved and painted sandstone statue of Our Lord stands on the wall of the same chapel, also from the 1460s.

Another stained glass window, from the turn of the 16th century.

A mosaic of two deer at the beginning of the nave; I was unable to find out how old it is.

A statue of St Christopher, inside the sanctuary where the gallery of the ambulatory begins.

This statue of the Virgin and Child has a charming legend attached to it. The story goes that a boy named Hermann Joseph, who was born in Cologne ca. 1150, would come every day to pray in front of the image, and offer it an apple, and one day, the statue smiled at him as a sign of thanksgiving. Hermann, went on to join Premonstratensian Order and become a great mystic; he died in either 1241 or 1252, and was canonized in 1960. To this day, apples are still laid on his tomb at Steinfeld Monastery (about 38 miles to the south-southwest of Cologne), and in front of this statue. Another story tells that the Virgin thanked Hermann by revealing to him a place within the church in which there was hidden the amount of money which he needed to pay his school fees.

The tomb of St Hermann in Steinfeld Monastery.

The church has two grave markers for its founder, a Frankish noblewoman named Plectrude (died 718), the wife of Pepin of Herstal, who had the first church built during their long residence in Cologne. (After World War II, her sarcophagus was found in the middle of the bombed-out church). This is the Gothic version, made in the late 13th century from painted sandstone.

The Romanesque version dates to about 1160/70.

The baptismal font, originally made in 1594 for the church of Little St Martin, moved here when it was destroyed.