Cologne (Koln) is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It's name comes from the wife of Nero and the daughter of General Germanicus, Claudia Agrippina of the Roman Empire. Major European trade routes crossed here, and the Rhine River is as busy today as it has ever been.
There is much more to Cologne than the cathedral, but it was there that I chose to spend most of my time. Building the church took more than six hundred years, from 1248 to 1880. It was a miracle that Allied bombing in World War II, which destroyed 90% of Cologne, left the church unscathed. The Cathedral in Cologne was for centuries the place most often visited by pilgrims because it contains the relics of the Magi, the three wise men, or kings, who were said to have visited the Christ Child after his birth. These questionable relics raise the eyebrows of scientists and scholars, but they have been dutifully kept for centuries just behind the altar in their original huge gold and silver reliquary.
There is much more to Cologne than the cathedral, but it was there that I chose to spend most of my time. Building the church took more than six hundred years, from 1248 to 1880. It was a miracle that Allied bombing in World War II, which destroyed 90% of Cologne, left the church unscathed. The Cathedral in Cologne was for centuries the place most often visited by pilgrims because it contains the relics of the Magi, the three wise men, or kings, who were said to have visited the Christ Child after his birth. These questionable relics raise the eyebrows of scientists and scholars, but they have been dutifully kept for centuries just behind the altar in their original huge gold and silver reliquary.
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