Cologne Cathedral is a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. At 157 m (515 ft), the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church of any kind in the world.
Cathedral façade
The unfinished cathedral in 1820, engraved by Henry Winkles. The huge crane on the tower of the cathedral is visible in the picture.
The unfinished cathedral in 1855. The medieval crane was still in place, while constructions for the nave had been resumed earlier in 1814.
The unfinished cathedral in 1856. The east end had been finished and roofed, while other parts of the building are in various stages of construction.
Cologne is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Centered on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf and 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.
Image: Kranhäuser Cologne, April 2018 01
Image: Kölner Dom und Hohenzollernbrücke Abenddämmerung (9706 7 8)
Image: 12 09 WLM Cologne 40
Image: St. Gereon Köln Dekagon 9702
