Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral
The Cathedral of St. Peter
Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus Kölner Dom
Cathedral façade
50°56′29″N 06°57′30″E / 50.94139°N 6.95833°E / 50.94139; 6.95833
Location	Cologne
Country	Germany
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	koelner-dom.de
History
Status	Cathedral
Dedication	Saint Peter
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Style	Gothic
Years built	1248–1560 1842–1880 1950s–present (restoration)
Specifications
Length	144.5 m (474 ft)[1]
Width	86.25 m (283.0 ft)[1]
Number of spires	2
Spire height	157 m (515 ft)[1]
Bells	11
Administration
Province	Cologne
Archdiocese	Cologne
Clergy
Provost	Guido Assmann[2]
Vice-provost	Robert Kleine
Vicar(s)	Jörg Stockem
Laity
Director of music	Eberhard Metternich
Organist(s)	Winfried Bönig[3]
Organ scholar	Ulrich Brüggemann
Building Building details
Record height
Tallest in the world from 1880 to 1890[I]
Preceded by	Rouen Cathedral
Surpassed by	Ulm Minster
Height
Antenna spire	157.4 m (516 ft)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iv
Reference	292
Inscription	1996 (20th Session)
Endangered	2004–06

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 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.^[4][5] It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year.^[6] 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.^[7]

Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560,^[8] 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.^[9] The towers for its two huge spires give 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 the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe".^[5] In Cologne, only the telecommunications tower is higher than the cathedral.^[4]