Cathedral Church of Saint Peter
This behemoth of a structure is a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. We got to tour this wonder while on our Viking River Cruise honeymoon. To think they began construction on this back in 1248! And then to think construction occurred on and off all the way up until 1880! That's around 600 years of on and off construction time for one structure! The United States would be lucky to have trees this old, let alone something made by man which is still used today! We were very fortunate to get to check this place out!
During WWII, Cologne Germany was almost completely leveled.......it's stated that 95% of the city was destroyed. Our tour guide explained that they removed most if not all of the stained glass and all holy relics from the cathedral to protect them during the war. The church was damaged fairly badly due to bombing of the nearby train station and bridges, but somehow it remained standing......and was nearly the ONLY structure left standing! Fighters on all sides used the cathedral as a reference point since it could be easily seen from far away. Today, citizens in Cologne actually pay an extra tax to help maintain the structure, and according to our tour guide, most do so more than willingly with the desire to preserve this monument.
Cathedral Church of Saint Peter
This behemoth of a structure is a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. We got to tour this wonder while on our Viking River Cruise honeymoon. To think they began construction on this back in 1248! And then to think construction occurred on and off all the way up until 1880! That's around 600 years of on and off construction time for one structure! The United States would be lucky to have trees this old, let alone something made by man which is still used today! We were very fortunate to get to check this place out!
During WWII, Cologne Germany was almost completely leveled.......it's stated that 95% of the city was destroyed. Our tour guide explained that they removed most if not all of the stained glass and all holy relics from the cathedral to protect them during the war. The church was damaged fairly badly due to bombing of the nearby train station and bridges, but somehow it remained standing......and was nearly the ONLY structure left standing! Fighters on all sides used the cathedral as a reference point since it could be easily seen from far away. Today, citizens in Cologne actually pay an extra tax to help maintain the structure, and according to our tour guide, most do so more than willingly with the desire to preserve this monument.