The Basilica of Saint George in Cologne

Thus far, the posts in this series about the twelve great Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, have been posted on the feast days of their titular Saints, or some other relevant liturgical occasion. The two that remain are dedicated to St George and St Pantaleon, whose feasts are on April 23 and July 27 respectively, which is too long to wait, so I will do the former today, and save the latter, which is far more beautiful and interesting, for next week to conclude the series.

An oratory dedicated to a martyr named Caesarius was built on this site, reutilizing walls of an ancient Roman building, sometime in the 7th century, but seems to have been destroyed during the Norman incursions into the region around Cologne in the later 9th century. St Anno II, archbishop of Cologne from 1056-75, founded a new collegiate church in the same place, which he dedicated to St George; both Saints are depicted in this mosaic in the tympanum over the main door, the work of a local artist named Eduard Schmitz. made in 1930. 

Like many churches in Germany, the complex was neglected after the great state-sponsored theft of ecclesiastical property at the beginning of the 19th century, and all of the conventual buildings around it torn down. This painting made in 1827 shows the choir with its Baroque roof, and the late medieval parish church of St James, which was attached to St Georg by a cloister, now destroyed. 

The church was heavily damaged during World War Two; the new roof of the choir was added in the post-War restorations, completed in 1964. 

This photograph of the interior was taken in 1911.

Shortly after World War I, the church had to be closed for fear that it would collapse. From 1927-30, it given a very severe restoration, typical for its era, which sought to return it to something like its supposedly original appearance by whitewashing the interior. Between these various restorations, the interior is now mostly very plain.

As part of the interwar restoration, the church was also given a new set of Art Nouveau stained glass windows designed by a Dutch artist named Johan Thorn Prikker (1868-1932), which would have been better chosen for a different kind of architectural setting.

The new sanctuary area in front of the choir, decorated for Christmas, but still exceedingly plain.

The north aisle.

Reliquary busts of three Sainted bishops.

The south aisle

Looking into the nave from the back of the church.

The interior façade of the westwork.

Some remains of decorative sculptures on the architectural tracery.

A fifteenth century statue of Christ praying in the garden. 

A Gospel book made for the church; the ivory panel of the Crucifixion is contemporary to its foundation, ca. 1060, but rest of the cover, made of gilt and silvered copper, dates to about 1480. (Now in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt.)