Colonge Martin Church Tourism

Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), officially Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in the city of Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and an esteemed monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture. With its twin spires soaring at 157 meters, the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church at 157 metres (515 ft) in the world and the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster. It holds the relic of the Three Kings and serves as a pilgrimage site. Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 but was halted in 1473, with work restarting in the 19th century and completed in 1880. The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during World War II but did not collapse and restoration work was completed in 1956. It is renowned for the Shrine of the Three Kings, an elaborate gold sculpted sarcophagus considered the largest reliquary in the western world. Cologne Cathedral was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is one of Germany's most visited landmarks, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.