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114-410: Because of local height limits, the church towers are widely visible. As a result of the narrow outcome of a local plebiscite, city administration prohibits buildings with a height exceeding 99 m in the city center. Since November 2004, this prohibition has been provisionally extended outward, and consequently, no buildings may be built in the city over the aforementioned height. The south tower, which

228-611: A crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in an 800 km (500 mi) arc (curved line) from east to west and is 200 km (120 mi) in width. The mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km (1.6 mi). The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble , and stretching eastward through mid and southern Switzerland. The range continues onward toward Vienna , Austria, and southeast to

342-466: A distance, the building is dominated by its huge spires, which are entirely Germanic in character, being openwork like those of Ulm , Vienna , Strasbourg and Regensburg Cathedrals . One of the treasures of the cathedral is the high altar, which was installed in 1322. It is constructed of black marble, with a solid slab 15 ft (4.6 m) long forming the top. The front and sides are overlaid with white marble niches into which are set figures, with

456-545: A few years. After the official completion of the cathedral in 1880, finishing work continued for around 20 years. Shortly before his death in 1902, master builder Richard Voigtel publicly stated that the cathedral had finally been completed. However, after the wings of an angel figure fell from the façade in 1906, the cathedral master builders resumed the renovation work. The cathedral is built from different types of rock, which weather to varying degrees due to their characteristics. The filigree buttresses and arches are exposed to

570-491: A figurative depiction of 20th-century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling. Holder of the office since 2014 is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki . On 5 January 2015, the cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a demonstration by PEGIDA . In 1996, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. In 2004, it

684-604: A fire. The altar of the patron saints of Cologne with an altarpiece by the International Gothic painter Stefan Lochner is in the Marienkapelle ("St. Mary's Chapel"). After completion in 1265, the radiating chapels were immediately taken into service as a burial place. The relics of Saint Irmgardis found a final resting place in the St. Agnes' Chapel. Her trachyte sarcophagus is considered to be created by

798-543: A holy city and faithful daughter of the Roman Church. The so-called reliquary-staff of Saint Peter and the chains of Saint Peter were among the church's most important relics. The Hillinus Codex from the 11th century shows Hildebold Cathedral in an unusually realistic depiction for the time. Today, the foundation walls of the Carolingian basilica have been revealed by the cathedral excavations. On 23 July 1164,

912-743: A major commercial and military road between Western Europe and Italy. The pass was crossed by many troops on their way to the Italian peninsula. From Constantine I , Pepin the Short and Charlemagne to Henry IV , Napoléon and more recently the German Gebirgsjägers during World War II . Now the pass has been supplanted by the Fréjus Highway Tunnel (opened 1980) and Rail Tunnel (opened 1871). The Saint Gotthard Pass crosses from Central Switzerland to Ticino ; in 1882

1026-708: A man was in 1788; the first ascent by a woman was in 1808. By the mid-1850s Swiss mountaineers had ascended most of the peaks and were eagerly sought as mountain guides. Edward Whymper reached the top of the Matterhorn in 1865 (after seven attempts), and in 1938 the last of the six great north faces of the Alps was climbed with the first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand (north face of the Eiger). Important geological concepts were established as naturalists began studying

1140-522: A permanent laboratory exists inside a glacier under the Jungfraujoch , devoted exclusively to the study of Alpine glaciers. Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom , pronounced [ˌkœlnɐ ˈdoːm] , officially Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus , English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter ) is a cathedral in Cologne , North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to

1254-604: A tunnel 1.6 km (1 mi) long was built along the route of the pass in the mid-19th century. With a summit of 2,469 m (8,100 ft), the Great St Bernard Pass is one of the highest in the Alps, crossing the Italian-Swiss border east of the Pennine Alps along the flanks of Mont Blanc. The pass was used by Napoleon Bonaparte to cross 40,000 troops in 1800. The Mont Cenis pass has been

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1368-646: Is sedimentary rock formed during mountain building. The Alpine orogeny occurred in ongoing cycles through to the Paleogene causing differences in folded structures, with a late-stage orogeny causing the development of the Jura Mountains . A series of tectonic events in the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods caused different paleogeographic regions. The Alps are subdivided by different lithology (rock composition) and nappe structures according to

1482-503: Is of continental European origin, above which are stacked marine sediment nappes, topped off by nappes derived from the African plate. The Matterhorn is an example of the ongoing orogeny and shows evidence of great folding. The tip of the mountain consists of gneisses from the African plate; the base of the peak, below the glaciated area, consists of European basement rock. The sequence of Tethyan marine sediments and their oceanic basement

1596-831: Is one of the biggest bells in Bavaria. It was cast in 1490 by Hans Ernst by order of Albrecht IV . In the church's north tower, since the mid-1980s, was a radio relay station of the German foreign intelligence service BND and another secret service. The relay station was removed in 2018. Alps The Alps ( / æ l p s / ) are one of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe , stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco , France , Switzerland , Italy , Liechtenstein , Germany , Austria and Slovenia . The Alpine arch extends from Nice on

1710-413: Is open to those wishing to climb the stairs or use the elevator, offers a unique view of Munich and the nearby Alps since the completion of its renovation in 2022. A late Romanesque church was added next to the town's first ring of walls in the 12th century. This new church served as a second city parish following the older, Alter Peter church. The late Gothic cathedral visible today, which replaced

1824-624: Is sandwiched between rock derived from the African and European plates. The core regions of the Alpine orogenic belt have been folded and fractured in such a manner that erosion produced the characteristic steep vertical peaks of the Swiss Alps that rise seemingly straight out of the foreland areas. Peaks such as Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and high peaks in the Pennine Alps, the Briançonnais, and Hohe Tauern consist of layers of rock from

1938-717: Is the oldest large crucifix north of the Alps and the earliest-known large free-standing Northern sculpture of the medieval period. In the Sacrament Chapel is the Mailänder Madonna ("Milan Madonna"), a high Gothic carving, depicting the Blessed Virgin and the infant Jesus. It was made in the Cologne Cathedral workshop sometime around 1290 as a replacement for the original which was lost in

2052-426: Is unclear how much the bishop contributed to the building. He probably started the new construction, which Charlemagne also generously supported. The bishop's residence was originally located next to the cathedral. With a length of around 95 meters, Hildebold Cathedral was one of the largest Carolingian churches ever built and became the architectural rolemodel for numerous churches in the early Holy Roman Empire . It

2166-534: The Adriatic Sea and Slovenia . To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the southern border of Bavaria in Germany. In areas like Chiasso , Switzerland, and Allgäu , Bavaria, the demarcation between the mountain range and the flatlands are clear; in other places such as Geneva , the demarcation is less clear. The Alps are found in the following countries: Austria (28.7% of

2280-529: The Archbishop of Cologne and Imperial Archchancellor Rainald of Dassel brought the bones of the Three Wise Men from Milan to Cologne, which was perceived as a "propaganda success". The relics had been left to the archbishop by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa from his spoils of war. They had been considered worthy of veneration at least since their transfer. Whether Rainald von Dassel himself or

2394-550: 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

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2508-915: The Colle della Maddalena , to the north. Upon reaching the Swiss border, the line of the main chain heads approximately east-northeast, a heading it follows until its end near Vienna. The northeast end of the Alpine arc, directly on the Danube , which flows into the Black Sea, is the Leopoldsberg near Vienna. In contrast, the southeastern part of the Alps ends on the Adriatic Sea in the area around Trieste towards Duino and Barcola . The Alps have been crossed for war and commerce, and by pilgrims, students and tourists. Crossing routes by road, train, or foot are known as passes , and usually consist of depressions in

2622-696: The Coronation of the Virgin at the centre. Joan Holladay has discussed the iconography of the high altar in the cathedral. The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings , commissioned by Philip von Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191 and created by Nicholas of Verdun, begun in 1190. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men , whose relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at

2736-511: The Gotthard Base Tunnel , was opened, which connects Erstfeld in canton of Uri with Bodio in canton of Ticino by two single tubes of 57.1 km (35.5 mi). It is the first tunnel that traverses the Alps on a flat route. From 11 December 2016, it has been part of the regular railway timetable and used hourly as standard ride between Basel / Lucerne / Zürich and Bellinzona / Lugano / Milan . The highest pass in

2850-628: The Kölsch language or in common parlance known as " Dicker Pitter "), was cast in 1922 and was the largest free-swinging bell in the world, until a new bell was cast in Innsbruck for the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania. This bell is only rung on eight major holidays such as Easter and Christmas. On Thursday, 3 March 2022, landmark cathedrals across Europe chimed in unison "in

2964-607: The Oxford English Dictionary , the Latin Alpes might derive from a pre-Indo-European word * alb "hill"; "Albania" is a related derivation. Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania , has been used as a name for several mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times , "Albania" was a name for the eastern Caucasus , while in the English languages "Albania" (or "Albany")

3078-764: The Pangaean supercontinent consisted of a single tectonic plate ; it broke into separate plates during the Mesozoic Era and the Tethys sea developed between Laurasia and Gondwana during the Jurassic Period. The Tethys was later squeezed between colliding plates causing the formation of mountain ranges called the Alpide belt , from Gibraltar through the Himalayas to Indonesia —a process that began at

3192-466: The Romanticists , followed by the golden age of alpinism as mountaineers began to ascend the peaks of the Alps. The Alpine region has a strong cultural identity. Traditional practices such as farming, cheesemaking, and woodworking still thrive in Alpine villages. However, the tourist industry began to grow early in the 20th century and expanded significantly after World War II, eventually becoming

3306-510: The Shrine of the Three Kings , Cologne Cathedral is a major attraction for tourists and pilgrims, and is one of the oldest and most important pilgrimage sites of Northern Europe. Visitors can climb 533 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 100 m (330 ft) above the ground. The platform gives a scenic view over the Rhine . The cathedral is a medieval building that

3420-736: The Simplon Pass , and the Stelvio Pass . Crossing the Italian-Austrian border, the Brenner Pass separates the Ötztal Alps and Zillertal Alps and has been in use as a trading route since the 14th century. The lowest of the Alpine passes at 985 m (3,232 ft), the Semmering crosses from Lower Austria to Styria ; since the 12th century when a hospice was built there, it has seen continuous use. A railroad with

3534-537: The Wittelsbach dynasty : The current organs were built in 1993–1994 by Georg Jann . The Great Organ (1994) on the west gallery has 95 stops (140 ranks, 7,165 pipes), which can be played from two four-manual general consoles (a tracker console behind the Rückpositiv division, and a second movable electric console on the lower choir gallery). The Choir Organ (1993) is located on a gallery in the right nave, near

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3648-553: The sounding board of the former pulpit. The former high altar painting completed by Peter Candid in 1620 has been moved to the north wall entrance of the sacristy and depicts the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Much of the interior was destroyed during World War II. An attraction that survived is the Teufelstritt , or Devil's Footstep, at the entrance. This is a black mark resembling a footprint, which according to legend

3762-615: The 15 km-long (9.3 mi) Saint Gotthard Railway Tunnel was opened connecting Lucerne in Switzerland, with Milan in Italy. 98 years later followed Gotthard Road Tunnel (16.9 km (10.5 mi) long) connecting the A2 motorway in Göschenen on the north side with Airolo on the south side, exactly like the railway tunnel. On 1 June 2016 the world's longest railway tunnel,

3876-664: The 20th century Robert Parker wrote a well-known work about the rock crystals of the Swiss Alps; at the same period a commission was established to control and standardize the naming of Alpine minerals. In the Miocene Epoch the mountains underwent severe erosion because of glaciation, which was noted in the mid-19th century by naturalist Louis Agassiz who presented a paper proclaiming the Alps were covered in ice at various intervals—a theory he formed when studying rocks near his Neuchâtel home which he believed originated to

3990-691: The 29 "four-thousanders" with at least 300 m (984 ft) of prominence. While Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786 and the Jungfrau in 1811, most of the Alpine four-thousanders were climbed during the second half of the 19th century, notably Piz Bernina (1850), the Dom (1858), the Grand Combin (1859), the Weisshorn (1861) and the Barre des Écrins (1864); the ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 marked

4104-455: The 5th century, was originally located in the garden of the Roman house that served as a Christian meeting place. Later, the baptistry built above the pool was presumably combined with the cathedral church to form a single building complex, although there is no archaeological evidence of this today. When Hildebold Cathedral was built and equipped with a baptismal font due to the changed rite, only

4218-486: The Alpine region. The cinnabar deposits in Slovenia are a notable source of cinnabar pigments. Alpine crystals have been studied and collected for hundreds of years and began to be classified in the 18th century. Leonhard Euler studied the shapes of crystals, and by the 19th-century crystal hunting was common in Alpine regions. David Friedrich Wiser amassed a collection of 8000 crystals that he studied and documented. In

4332-708: The Alps are difficult to quantify and likely to vary significantly in space and time. The Alps are a source of minerals that have been mined for thousands of years. In the 8th to 6th centuries, BC during the Hallstatt culture , Celtic tribes mined copper; later the Romans mined gold for coins in the Bad Gastein area. Erzberg in Styria furnishes high-quality iron ore for the steel industry. Crystals, such as cinnabar , amethyst , and quartz , are found throughout much of

4446-771: The Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era. A mummified man ("Ötzi") , determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established. Hannibal notably crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800, Napoleon crossed one of the mountain passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, and artists, in particular,

4560-799: The Austroalpine peaks underwent an event in the Cretaceous Period, the two areas show distinct differences in nappe formations. Flysch deposits in the Southern Alps of Lombardy probably occurred in the Cretaceous or later. Peaks in France, Italy and Switzerland lie in the "Houillière zone", which consists of basement with sediments from the Mesozoic Era. High "massifs" with external sedimentary cover are more common in

4674-402: The Eastern and South-Western Alps. The underlying mechanisms that jointly drive the present-day uplift pattern are the isostatic rebound due to the melting of the last glacial maximum ice-cap or long-term erosion, detachment of the Western Alpine subducting slab, mantle convection as well as ongoing horizontal convergence between Africa and Europe, but their relative contributions to the uplift of

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4788-480: The Frauenkirche towers. Catholic Mass is held regularly in the cathedral, which still serves as a parish church. It is among the largest hall churches in southern Germany. The hall is divided into 3 sectors (the main nave and two side aisles of equal height (31 metres (102 ft)) by a double row of 22 pillars (11 at either side, 22 metres (72 ft)) that help enclose the space. These are voluminous, but appear quite slim because of their impressive height and

4902-592: The French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains 128 peaks higher than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) . The altitude and size of the range affect the climate in Europe; in the mountains, precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as ibex live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m (11,155 ft), and plants such as edelweiss grow in rocky areas in lower elevations as well as in higher elevations. Evidence of human habitation in

5016-462: The Greek goddess Alphito , whose name is related to alphita , the "white flour"; alphos , a dull white leprosy; and finally the Proto-Indo-European word *albʰós . Similarly, the river god Alpheus is also supposed to derive from the Greek alphos and means whitish. In his commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil , the late fourth-century grammarian Maurus Servius Honoratus says that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. According to

5130-472: The Milanese patricians should be regarded as the "inventors" of the relics is disputed in academic literature. In any case, between 1190 and 1225, the Shrine of the Three Kings was made for the highly respected saints in Cologne, which is considered one of the most sophisticated goldsmith's works of the Middle Ages; the shrine was placed in the center of the Old Cathedral. Cologne thus became an internationally renowned place of pilgrimage in Europe. To oversee

5244-527: The Romanesque church, was commissioned by Duke Sigismund and the people of Munich, and built in the 15th century. The cathedral was erected in only 20 years' time by Jörg von Halsbach . Because there was not a nearby stone quarry and for other financial reasons, brick was chosen as building material. Construction began in 1468, and when the cash resources were exhausted in 1479, Pope Sixtus IV granted an indulgence . The two towers, which are both just over 98 meters (323 feet) tall, were completed in 1488, and

5358-481: The Western Alps and were affected by Neogene Period thin-skinned thrusting whereas the Eastern Alps have comparatively few high peaked massifs. Similarly the peaks in eastern Switzerland extending to western Austria (Helvetic nappes) consist of thin-skinned sedimentary folding that detached from former basement rock. In simple terms, the structure of the Alps consists of layers of rock of European, African, and oceanic (Tethyan) origin. The bottom nappe structure

5472-525: The alps is the Col de l'Iseran in Savoy (France) at 2,770 m (9,088 ft), followed by the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy at 2,756 m (9,042 ft); the road was built in the 1820s. The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has defined a list of 82 "official" Alpine summits that reach at least 4,000 m (13,123 ft). The list includes not only mountains, but also subpeaks with little prominence that are considered important mountaineering objectives. Below are listed

5586-463: The altar stairs. It has 36 stops (53 ranks) and can be played from a three-manual tracker console, as well as from the two main consoles on the west gallery. Both organs together contain 131 stops (193 ranks, 9,833 pipes) and are the largest organ ensemble in Munich. Both towers contain ten bells cast in the 14th, 15th, 17th and 21st centuries. Their combination is unique and incomparable in Europe. The heaviest bell called Susanna or Salveglocke

5700-400: The alterations of the Baroque period and the Gothic Revival, but burned in World War II, only the figures had been relocated and preserved. Therefore, the Frauenkirche still has the largest surviving ensemble of characters from the Late Gothic in Germany. The optical end of the sanctuary is formed by a column on which stands the St. Mary statue by Roman Anton Boos , which he executed in 1780 for

5814-444: The baptismal piscina remained from the baptistery. Today, this piscina, which is accessible in the base of the cathedral, is considered the oldest evidence of Christian worship in Cologne. In Carolingian times, the Old Cathedral was built on Cologne Cathedral Hill and consecrated in 870. The cathedral is now known as Hildebold Cathedral after Bishop Hildebold , who was a close advisor to Charlemagne and died in 818. However, it

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5928-455: The bombings had damaged the foundations of the Dom, archaeological excavations began in 1946 under the leadership of Otto Doppelfeld and were concluded in 1997. One of the most meaningful excavations of churches, they revealed previously unknown details of earlier buildings on the site. Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in the building, which is rarely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at

6042-605: The building's height-to-width ratio. The arches were designed by Heinrich von Straubing. From the main portal the view seems to be only the rows of columns with no windows and translucent "walls" between the vaults through which the light seems to shine. The spatial effect of the church is connected with a legend about a footprint in a square tile at the entrance to the nave, the so-called "devil's footstep". A rich collection of 14th to 18th century artwork of notable artists like Peter Candid , Erasmus Grasser , Jan Polack , Hans Leinberger , Hans Krumpper and Ignaz Günther decorates

6156-447: The building, however they have become a distinctive landmark of Munich. With an enclosed space of about 200,000 m³, with 150,000 m³ up to the height of the vault, it is the second among the largest hall churches in general and the second among the largest brick churches north of the Alps (after St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk). In accordance with a law passed in 2004, no buildings within Munich city limits may be built taller than

6270-432: The building. A large stone statue of St Christopher looks down towards the place where the earlier entrance to the cathedral was, before its completion in the late 19th century. The nave has many 19th century stained glass windows. A set of five on the south side, called the Bayernfenster , were a gift from Ludwig I of Bavaria , and strongly represent the painterly German style of the time. Externally, particularly from

6384-422: The cathedral (Marzellenstrasse/Trankgasse) was the site of intense combat between American tanks of the 3rd Armored Division and a Panther Ausf. A of Panzer brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle. A nearby Panther, a German medium tank, was sitting by a pile of rubble near a train station right by the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral. The Panther successfully knocked out two Sherman tanks, killing three men, before it

6498-432: The cathedral during this time. Also as part of the events of World Youth Day, Cologne Cathedral hosted a televised gala performance of Beethoven 's Missa Solemnis , performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir conducted by Gilbert Levine . On 25 August 2007, the cathedral received a new stained glass window in the south transept . The 113 m (1,220 sq ft) glass work

6612-614: The cathedral masons' guild around 1280. Other works of art are in the Cathedral Treasury. Embedded in the interior wall are a pair of stone tablets on which are carved the provisions formulated by Archbishop Englebert II (1262–67) under which Jews were permitted to reside in Cologne. Cologne Cathedral has two pipe organs by Klais Orgelbau : the Transept Organ, built in 1948, and the Nave Organ, built in 1998. Cathedral organists have included Josef Zimmermann , Clemens Ganz (1985–2001) and Winfried Bönig (2001). The cathedral has eleven church bells, four of which are medieval. The first

6726-427: The cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world. Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit for its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor . Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to

6840-440: The cathedral without scaffolding." Regular renovation work is required due to sporadic earthquake damage. For example, during the 1992 Roermond earthquake , the 400 kg finial on the eastern pinnacle of the southern transept gable broke off, smashed through the roof and damaged the roof truss. Four other finials were loosened. From May to November 2021, a remote-controlled drone took 200,000 high-resolution photos of all parts of

6954-744: The central and western portions. The variances in nomenclature in the region spanned by the Alps make classification of the mountains and subregions difficult, but a general classification is that of the Eastern Alps and Western Alps with the divide between the two occurring in eastern Switzerland according to geologist Stefan Schmid, near the Splügen Pass . The highest peaks of the Western Alps and Eastern Alps, respectively, are Mont Blanc, at 4,810 m (15,780 ft), and Piz Bernina , at 4,049 m (13,284 ft). The second-highest major peaks are Monte Rosa , at 4,634 m (15,203 ft), and Ortler , at 3,905 m (12,810 ft), respectively. A series of lower mountain ranges run parallel to

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7068-413: The church a distinctive Munich landmark. The building has a volume of about 200,000 m³, and originally had the capacity to house 20,000 standing people. Later, pews for ordinary people were introduced. Considering late fifteenth-century Munich had only 13,000 inhabitants and an already established parish church in Alter Peter, it is quite remarkable that a second church of this magnitude was erected in

7182-436: The church was consecrated in 1494. There were plans for tall, open-work spires typical of the Gothic style, but given the financial difficulties of the time, the plans could not be realized. The towers remained unfinished until 1525. German historian Hartmann Schedel printed a view of Munich including the unfinished towers in his famous Nuremberg Chronicle , also known as Schedel's World Chronicle. Finally, because rainwater

7296-481: The city. In 1919, Eugen Leviné , leader of a short-lived Bavarian Socialist Republic , had the Frauenkirche declared a "revolutionary temple." The cathedral suffered severe damage during the later stages of World War II . After Allied forces' air raids , the church roof collapsed, one of the towers suffered severe damage, and the majority of the church's irreplaceable historical artifacts held inside were lost—either destroyed by bomb raids themselves, or removed with

7410-417: The collapse of Roman rule on the Rhine, the Merovingian petty kings residing in Cologne built an episcopal church on this site in the 6th century, which was eventually around 40 to 50 meters long and equipped with an ambon . This building, which was probably built by King Theudebert I , served as a burial place for the royal family; among others, the king's wife Wisigard was buried here around 537. However,

7524-500: The conquest of Milan in 1164. The shrine takes the form of a large reliquary in the shape of a basilican church, made of bronze and silver, gilded and ornamented with architectonic details, figurative sculpture, enamels and gemstones. The shrine was opened in 1864 and was found to contain bones and garments. Near the sacristy is the Gero Crucifix , a large crucifix carved in oak and with traces of paint and gilding. Believed to have been commissioned around 960 for Archbishop Gero, it

7638-462: The construction, mighty anyway, look even more enormous and gives it a near-modern appearance according to the principle of "less is more". The Late Gothic brick building with chapels surrounding the apse is 109 metres (358 ft) long, 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and 37 metres (121 ft) high. Contrary to a widespread legend that says the two towers with their characteristic domes are exactly one meter different in height, they are almost equal:

7752-417: The costs, did not want this bell either. Another attempt took place on 3 October 1874. The colossal bell was shipped to Cologne and on 13 May 1875, installed in the cathedral. This Kaiserglocke was eventually melted in 1918 to support the German war effort. The Kaiserglocke was the largest free-swinging bell in history. The 24-tonne St. Petersglocke ("Bell of St. Peter", " Decke Pitter " in

7866-461: The debris in the aftermath. A multi-stage restoration effort began soon after the war. The final stage of restoration was completed in 1994. The Frauenkirche was constructed from red brick in the late Gothic style within only 20 years. The building is designed very plainly, without rich Gothic ornamentation and with its buttresses moved into and hidden in the interior. This, together with the two towers' special design ( battered upwards, etc.), makes

7980-458: The devil by positioning columns so that the windows were not visible from the spot where the devil stood in the foyer. When the devil discovered that he had been tricked, he could not enter the already consecrated church. The devil could only stand in the foyer and stomp his foot furiously, which left the dark footprint that remains visible in the church's entrance today. Legend also says the devil then rushed outside and manifested his evil spirit in

8094-424: The dominant industry by the end of the century. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, Italian, Austrian and German Alps. As of 2010, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps comes from the Latin Alpes . The Latin word Alpes could possibly come from the adjective albus ("white"), or could possibly come from

8208-520: The east choir, but almost the entire cathedral; the Shrine of the Three Kings was saved from the fire. The western parts of Hildebold Cathedral were provisionally rebuilt and were only taken down after 1322, when the Gothic choir was completed and construction of the Gothic nave began. The foundation stone was laid on Saturday, 15 August 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden . The eastern arm

8322-568: The end of the Mesozoic and continues into the present. The formation of the Alps was a segment of this orogenic process, caused by the collision between the African and the Eurasian plates that began in the late Cretaceous Period. Under extreme compressive stresses and pressure, marine sedimentary rocks were uplifted, forming characteristic recumbent folds , and thrust faults . As

8436-609: The end of the golden age of alpinism . Karl Blodig (1859–1956) was among the first to successfully climb all the major 4,000 m peaks. He completed his series of ascents in 1911. Many of the big Alpine three-thousanders were climbed in the early 19th century, notably the Grossglockner (1800) and the Ortler (1804), although some of them were climbed only much later, such at Mont Pelvoux (1848), Monte Viso (1861) and La Meije (1877). The first British Mont Blanc ascent by

8550-518: The enormous costs, while the Prussian state supplied the remaining third. The state saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815, but especially after 1871, it was regarded as a project to symbolize German nationhood. Work resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but using more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders . The nave

8664-470: The excavation finds under the cathedral choir do not allow a complete reconstruction of the buildings from the Merovingian period. Already in late antiquity, there was a baptistery to the east of the cathedral choir, where the early Christians, following the rite of the time, stepped into knee-deep water and were completely doused. It is assumed that the baptismal font ( piscina ), which dates back to

8778-466: The façade from a distance of five to seven meters and assembled them into a digital 3D model of the cathedral, which offers a very accurate representation with 25 billion polygons. This makes it possible to precisely document the current condition and the need for conservation and restoration, even in remote areas. The 3D model has a size of 50 gigabytes. The cost of creating the model was in the six-figure range. The ground plan design of Cologne Cathedral

8892-399: The interior of the cathedral again since the last restoration. The Gothic nave, several of the Gothic stained-glass windows, some of them made for the previous church, and the tomb monument of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor are major attractions. For the daily choral prayers Erasmus Grasser created in 1495–1502 the choir stalls with busts of apostles and prophets and small statues which survived

9006-648: The main chain of the Alps, including the French Prealps in France and the Jura Mountains in Switzerland and France. The secondary chain of the Alps follows the watershed from the Mediterranean Sea to the Wienerwald , passing over many of the highest and most well-known peaks in the Alps. From the Colle di Cadibona to Col de Tende it runs westwards, before turning to the northwest and then, near

9120-821: The mountains in which a valley leads from the plains and hilly pre-mountainous zones. In the medieval period hospices were established by religious orders at the summits of many of the main passes. The most important passes are the Col de l'Iseran (the highest), the Col Agnel , the Brenner Pass , the Mont-Cenis , the Great St. Bernard Pass , the Col de Tende , the Gotthard Pass , the Semmering Pass ,

9234-459: The north tower is 98.57 metres (323.4 ft) while the south tower is only 98.45 metres (323.0 ft), 12 centimetres (4.7 in) less. The original design called for pointed spires to top the towers, much like Cologne Cathedral , but those were never built because of lack of money. Instead, the two domes were constructed during the Renaissance and do not match the architectural style of

9348-526: The number of bells. This was facilitated by Kaiser Wilhelm I who gave French bronze cannon, captured in 1870–71, for this purpose. The 22 pieces of artillery were displayed outside the cathedral on 11 May 1872. Andreas Hamm in Frankenthal used them to cast a bell of over 27,000 kilos on 19 August 1873. The tone was not harmonious and another attempt was made on 13 November 1873. The Central Cathedral Association, which had agreed to take over

9462-439: The original sandstone. The cathedral works (Dombauhütte) has already tested numerous means of preserving the stones. A convincing method has not yet been found. In addition, the iron anchors and dowels that hold the many parts of the architectural decoration are also beginning to rust. They are threatening to crack the stones and need to be replaced with steel parts. "It is therefore foreseeable that no one alive today will ever see

9576-831: The orogenic events that affected them. The geological subdivision differentiates the Western, Eastern Alps, and Southern Alps: the Helveticum in the north, the Penninicum and Austroalpine system in the centre and, south of the Periadriatic Seam, the Southern Alpine system . According to geologist Stefan Schmid, because the Western Alps underwent a metamorphic event in the Cenozoic Era while

9690-532: The outward thrust of the vault is taken by flying buttresses in the French manner. The eastern end has a single ambulatory , the second aisle resolving into a chevet of seven radiating chapels. Internally, the medieval choir is more varied and less mechanical in its details than the 19th-century building. It presents a French style arrangement of very tall arcade , a delicate narrow triforium gallery lit by windows and with detailed tracery merging with that of

9804-506: The pilgrim crowds, an office of custos regum ("guardian of the kings") was established after 1162. However, the only narrow side portal of the cathedral was not very suitable for the crowds of pilgrims, as it had to be used as an entrance and an exit at the same time. With the construction of the Gothic cathedral in 1248, the Old Cathedral was to be demolished step by step. However, careless demolition work and fire destroyed not only

9918-678: The range's area), Italy (27.2%), France (21.4%), Switzerland (13.2%), Germany (5.8%), Slovenia (3.6%), Liechtenstein (0.08%) and Monaco (0.001%). The highest portion of the range is divided by the glacial trough of the Rhône valley, from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa on the southern side, and the Bernese Alps on the northern. The peaks in the easterly portion of the range, in Austria and Slovenia, are smaller than those in

10032-413: The rising peaks underwent erosion, a layer of marine flysch sediments was deposited in the foreland basin , and the sediments became involved in younger folds as the orogeny progressed. Coarse sediments from the continual uplift and erosion were later deposited in foreland areas north of the Alps. These regions in Switzerland and Bavaria are well-developed, containing classic examples of flysch , which

10146-522: The rock formations of the Alps in the 18th century. In the mid-19th century, the now-defunct idea of geosynclines was used to explain the presence of "folded" mountain chains. This theory was replaced in the mid-20th century by the theory of plate tectonics . The formation of the Alps (the Alpine orogeny ) was an episodic process that began about 300 million years ago. In the Paleozoic Era

10260-470: The stones. The Dombauhütte , established to build the cathedral and keep it in repair, employs skilled stonemasons for the purpose. Half the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the Dombauverein . On 18 August 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Germany, as part of World Youth Day 2005 festivities. An estimated one million pilgrims visited

10374-443: The strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe". In Cologne, only the telecommunications tower is higher than the cathedral. Maternus of Cologne was the first bishop of Cologne in around 313. However, Cologne's Christian community, still small at this time, did not gather in a church, but in a residential building, which is thought to have been located on the cathedral hill below today's choir. After

10488-658: The structure of the nave between the west front and the eastern arm, but during the 16th century this also stopped. With the 19th-century Romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages , and spurred by the discovery of the original plan for the façade, the Protestant Prussian Court working with the church, committed to complete the cathedral. It was achieved by civic effort; the Central-Dombauverein , founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of

10602-752: The summer months and where huts and hay barns can be found, sometimes constituting tiny hamlets. Therefore, the term "the Alps", as a reference to the mountains, is a misnomer. The term for the mountain peaks varies by nation and language: words such as Horn , Kogel , Kopf , Gipfel , Spitze , Stock , and Berg are used in German-speaking regions; Mont , Pic , Tête , Pointe , Dent , Roche , and Aiguille in French-speaking regions; and Monte , Picco , Corno , Punta , Pizzo , or Cima in Italian-speaking regions. The Alps are

10716-434: The upper parts of the nave and transept, shows the most intensive weathering . It is therefore constantly being renewed and until the 1980s was preferably replaced with Londorf basalt lava, which is considered to be very weather-resistant, but is not sandy beige, but grey in color. Since the 1990s, however, the cathedral master builders have endeavored to carry out the restoration with stones that come as close as possible to

10830-539: The various orogenies including exposures of basement rock. Due to the ever-present geologic instability, earthquakes continue in the Alps to this day. Typically, the largest earthquakes in the alps have been between magnitude 6 and 7 on the Richter scale. Geodetic measurements show ongoing topographic uplift at rates of up to about 2.5 mm per year in the North, Western and Central Alps, and at ~1 mm per year in

10944-416: The weather from all sides and are attacked by water, the sulphur content of the air and bird droppings. Especially from the 1960s onwards, acid rain severely affected the stones and turned them increasingly black. It was only from the 1990s onwards that air pollution control measures reduced the level of pollution. The Schlaitdorf sandstone , which was used from 1842 onwards for the transept façades and

11058-548: The west in the Bernese Oberland. Because of his work he came to be known as the "father of the ice-age concept" although other naturalists before him put forth similar ideas. Agassiz studied glacier movement in the 1840s at the Unteraar Glacier where he found the glacier moved 100 m (328 ft) per year, more rapidly in the middle than at the edges. His work was continued by other scientists and now

11172-548: The western Mediterranean to Trieste on the Adriatic and Vienna at the beginning of the Pannonian Basin . The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn . Mont Blanc spans

11286-517: The wind that furiously rages around the church. Another version of that part of the legend has it that the devil came riding on the wind to see the church under construction. Having completely lost his temper, he stormed away, forgetting the wind, which will continue to blow around the church until the day the devil comes back to reclaim it. The crypt contains the tombs of the Archbishops of Munich and Freising and among others of these members of

11400-423: The windows above. The clerestory windows are tall and retain some old figurative glass in the lower sections. The whole is united by the tall shafts that sweep unbroken from the floor to their capitals at the spring of the vault. The vault is of plain quadripartite arrangement. The choir retains a great many of its original fittings, including the carved stalls, despite French Revolutionary troops having desecrated

11514-482: The world for four years until the completion of the Washington Monument . The twin spires of the cathedral were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing during World War II . The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city. On 6 March 1945, an area west of

11628-501: The world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster , and the third tallest church of any kind in the world. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560, unfinished. Attempts to complete the construction began around 1814 but the project was not properly funded until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original medieval plan in 1880. The towers for its two huge spires give

11742-520: Was based closely on that of Amiens Cathedral , as is the style and the width to height proportion of the central nave. The plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross , as is usual with Gothic cathedrals. It has two aisles on either side, which help support one of the very highest Gothic vaults in the world, being nearly as tall as that of the Beauvais Cathedral , much of which collapsed. Externally

11856-552: Was built in the Carolingian tradition as a basilica with two choirs, with the east choir dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus and the more important choir in the west to the memory of Saint Peter . Through its patronage, but also in its architecture, Hildebold Cathedral made reference to Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was regarded as the St. Peter's Basilica of the North. This was intended to underline Cologne's claim to be

11970-438: Was built very solidly from a structural point of view. At the same time, however, the stone structure requires continuous maintenance and renovation. The cathedral's master builder Barbara Schock-Werner said: "Cologne Cathedral without scaffolding is not a pipe dream, but a nightmare. It would mean that we would no longer be able to afford the cathedral." In fact, the completed cathedral was only visible without scaffolding for

12084-408: Was completed and the towers were added. The bells were installed in the 1870s. The largest bell is St. Petersglocke . The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 15 October 1880, 632 years after construction had begun. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I . With a height of 157.38 m (516.3 ft), it was the tallest building in

12198-509: Was completed under the direction of Master Gerhard , was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall so it could be used as the work continued. Eighty-four misericords in the choir date from this building phase. . This work ceased in 1473, leaving the south tower complete to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane that remained in place as a landmark of the Cologne skyline for 400 years. Some work proceeded intermittently on

12312-504: Was created by the German artist Gerhard Richter with the €400,000 cost paid by donations. It is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of coloured glass resembling pixels , randomly arranged by computer, which create a colourful "carpet". Since the loss of the original window in World War II, the space had been temporarily filled with plain glass. The then archbishop of the cathedral, Cardinal Joachim Meisner , who had preferred

12426-414: Was destroyed by a T26E3 Pershing , nicknamed Eagle 7, minutes later. Film footage of that battle survives. Repairs of the war damage were completed in 1956. A repair to part of the northwest tower , carried out in 1944 using poor-quality brick taken from a nearby ruined building, remained visible as a reminder of the war until 2005, when it was restored to its original appearance. To investigate whether

12540-484: Was occasionally used as a name for Scotland , although it is more likely derived from the Latin word albus , the colour white. In modern languages the term alp , alm , albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a high mountain pasture, typically near or above the tree line , where cows and other livestock are taken to be grazed during

12654-462: Was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list, as the only Western site in danger, due to plans to construct several high-rise buildings nearby, which would have visually impacted the site. The cathedral was removed from the "in danger" list in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the cathedral. As a World Heritage Site and host to

12768-573: Was regularly penetrating the temporary roofing in the tower's ceilings, the towers were completed in 1525, albeit using a more budget-friendly design. This new design may have been modelled after the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem , which itself was modelled from late Byzantine architecture and erroneously considered to be Solomon's original temple. The resulting domes atop each tower contributed to making

12882-518: Was the 3.8-tonne Dreikönigsglocke ("Bell of the Three Kings"), cast in 1418, installed in 1437, and recast in 1880. Two of the other bells, the Pretiosa (10.5 tonnes; at that time the largest bell in the Western world) and the Speciosa (5.6 tonnes) were installed in 1448 and remain in place today. During the 19th century, as the building neared completion, there was a desire to increase

12996-463: Was where the devil stood when he curiously regarded and ridiculed the 'windowless' church that Halsbach had built. (In baroque times the high altar obscured the one window at the very end of the church, that visitors can see now when standing in the entrance hall.) In another version of the legend, the devil made a deal with the builder to finance construction of the church on the condition that it contain no windows. The clever builder, however, tricked

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