I’ve had the good fortune to visit this amazing structure several times:
@Culture_Crit
May 17 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
This church took 632 years to build — what inspired it?
Heinrich Heine explained: "Men in those days had convictions; we moderns have opinions. And it needs more than opinions to build a Gothic cathedral."
And it was built to keep something extraordinary inside... (thread) 🧵
The fact that medieval society attempted to build Cologne Cathedral at all is astounding. With basic hand tools, transporting materials by ox-cart?
It's one of humanity's greatest achievements — but most aren't aware why they built it...
It was to house something of (potentially) enormous significance: the human remains of the Three Wise Men.
But can they be real? Why on Earth are they in Germany?
Well, they were taken from a church in Milan when the Holy Roman Empire sieged the city in 1162. But before then, they were in the possession of Roman Emperor Constantine...
The Gospels say little about the "wise men from the East" who came to pay homage to Jesus in Bethlehem. But later writings tell us more about their return to India and Persia.
In the 4th century, Constantine's mother, Helena, went looking for relics associated with Christ. Legends say she found his tomb and cross in the Holy Land, then went eastward to recover the remains of the Wise Men. She found them, and took them to Constantinople...
When the bones finally ended up in Cologne in 1164, they were put in this golden shrine, and it was agreed the world's biggest cathedral needed to be built for them.
Nobody opened the shrine for centuries, until 1864...
And this is what they found: human remains, with three crowned skulls.
Most people are (rightly) skeptical about claims of relics, since many stories were fabricated in the Middle Ages. But there are curious details to note here...
The bones seem to have belonged to one young man, one middle-aged, and one elderly. Interestingly, this matches the famous, and probably oldest existing depiction of the Three Kings: this 6th century mosaic in Ravenna.
Still, it could easily be a medieval hoax. Is there anything connecting them to something older?
Well, in 1980, silk that the bones are wrapped in was dated back to modern-day Syria, 2,000 years ago...
All this of course proves nothing. But regardless, they put Cologne among Europe's most significant religious sites — and ignited one of mankind's greatest construction efforts...
Work started in 1248, but stalled in the 16th century: war, financing issues and the Reformation got in the way. For centuries it stayed like this, with the medieval crane on top dominating Cologne's skyline.
When an upswell of romanticism for medieval architecture came in the 19th century, the decision was made to finish it. It became a symbol of soon-to-be-unified Germany — a Gothic wonder rivalling anything in neighbouring France.
Now, it's the most visited building in Germany. A magnificent ode to human perseverance:
In WW2, Cologne was obliterated, but the cathedral stood tall — despite taking 14 aerial bomb hits.
Generations of workers built it, knowing they would never live to see the end result.
That makes you wonder: do we have the conviction for intergenerational construction projects like it now?
Will humanity ever produce something like it again?
Culture Critic
@Culture_CritMay 17 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
This church took 632 years to build — what inspired it?
Heinrich Heine explained: "Men in those days had convictions; we moderns have opinions. And it needs more than opinions to build a Gothic cathedral."
And it was built to keep something extraordinary inside... (thread) 🧵
The fact that medieval society attempted to build Cologne Cathedral at all is astounding. With basic hand tools, transporting materials by ox-cart?
It's one of humanity's greatest achievements — but most aren't aware why they built it...
It was to house something of (potentially) enormous significance: the human remains of the Three Wise Men.
But can they be real? Why on Earth are they in Germany?
Well, they were taken from a church in Milan when the Holy Roman Empire sieged the city in 1162. But before then, they were in the possession of Roman Emperor Constantine...
The Gospels say little about the "wise men from the East" who came to pay homage to Jesus in Bethlehem. But later writings tell us more about their return to India and Persia.
In the 4th century, Constantine's mother, Helena, went looking for relics associated with Christ. Legends say she found his tomb and cross in the Holy Land, then went eastward to recover the remains of the Wise Men. She found them, and took them to Constantinople...
When the bones finally ended up in Cologne in 1164, they were put in this golden shrine, and it was agreed the world's biggest cathedral needed to be built for them.
Nobody opened the shrine for centuries, until 1864...
And this is what they found: human remains, with three crowned skulls.
Most people are (rightly) skeptical about claims of relics, since many stories were fabricated in the Middle Ages. But there are curious details to note here...
The bones seem to have belonged to one young man, one middle-aged, and one elderly. Interestingly, this matches the famous, and probably oldest existing depiction of the Three Kings: this 6th century mosaic in Ravenna.
Still, it could easily be a medieval hoax. Is there anything connecting them to something older?
Well, in 1980, silk that the bones are wrapped in was dated back to modern-day Syria, 2,000 years ago...
All this of course proves nothing. But regardless, they put Cologne among Europe's most significant religious sites — and ignited one of mankind's greatest construction efforts...
Work started in 1248, but stalled in the 16th century: war, financing issues and the Reformation got in the way. For centuries it stayed like this, with the medieval crane on top dominating Cologne's skyline.
When an upswell of romanticism for medieval architecture came in the 19th century, the decision was made to finish it. It became a symbol of soon-to-be-unified Germany — a Gothic wonder rivalling anything in neighbouring France.
Now, it's the most visited building in Germany. A magnificent ode to human perseverance:
In WW2, Cologne was obliterated, but the cathedral stood tall — despite taking 14 aerial bomb hits.
Generations of workers built it, knowing they would never live to see the end result.
That makes you wonder: do we have the conviction for intergenerational construction projects like it now?
Will humanity ever produce something like it again?
