Kölner Dom

Cologne's Cathedral is impressive. It's super-duper impressive. I was just in New York a few weeks ago and had the chance to visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine up near Harlem, which is supposedly the largest (physical) church in the United States.*

That is, a church that was built as a church and not the monstrosity that is Joel Osteen's Houston Rockets former arena.

St. John the Divine is big, enormous, huge. It's far larger than the better known St. Patrick's cathedral, which of course belongs to the Catholic church. None of that matters. Dom is much larger. It reaches nearly 230ft in height, but what's far more impressive is that its construction was begun in the year A.D. 1248. Note, that is not a typo. As frequent as typos are in this blog, that year is not.

A.D. 1248
In the year of Our Lord Twelve Hundred and Forty Eight.

It wasn't fully completed until the 1800s. Wow!
I stepped inside just to have a gander. It is really something phenomenal. Honestly the most beautiful Gothic Cathedral I've ever seen. Just have a look at it's Wikipedia page Kölner Dom.
While this reveals some interesting history and facts and figures, the real thing is impressive. I want to climb up (inside) one of the spires soon. We were supposed to the other day, but got sidetracked by needing to return to meet the landlady mid afternoon.

Dom is such an important landmark and such a piece of the identity in Cologne that it is truly ubiquitous in this city. The zoo has worked it into its logo. There is a brand of beer called Dom Kölsch (a little sweet, but very pleasant, especially sitting in the grandeur of its namesake). The big musical theater/amphitheater is called the Cologne Dome. It's the site of the HauptBahnHof (main train station). Dom is everywhere in this city. It is used for all kinds of advertisements and having spoken to several Kölners now, it is apparent that they strongly identify with this landmark as part of their city. What's more, I've met a handful of people who have moved from other countries to Cologne in part because the cathedral this city such an identity.

Definitely worth seeing at least once!