The number one in Germany, the Cologne Cathedral is the town’s landmark and certainly the most famous sight in North Rhine-Westphalia with its distinctive twin towers on the impressive facade of the West. The building was erected on the Cathedral Hill 17 m above the Rhine River and is at the northern edge of the former Roman fortification. The modern surroundings, the Domplatte, is a popular meeting place in Cologne; It allows unobstructed views of this attraction and brings it so really the, after all, the Cologne Cathedral belongs since 1996 to the UNESCO World Heritage. As the Roman Catholic Church Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Catholic parish church St. Apostles; the profession of Simon Petrus, and Maria led to the official name high Cathedral Church of St. Peter and Mary”. With a height of 157.4 m, the Cologne Cathedral is the second tallest church building in Europe and one of the most popular to the Ulmer Munster Attractions in Germany; the architectural features and the treasures of the Cathedral marvel at between 5 and 6 million visitors per year. The DOM structure stands on Church historical soil, because there were already several earlier churches of which still sparse remnants (e.g.
a baptismal font) are available; immediate predecessor was the old Cathedral (Hildebold DOM), the 1248 at its demolition was almost completely burned. The demolition of the old building was necessary to meet the masses of pilgrims, which made 1164 pilgrimages since the transfer from Milan to the reliquary shrine of the three kings. The new building of the present Cathedral was started on August 15, 1248; first Executive Architect was Gerhard von rile, who took the Cathedral of Amiens as a model for the Cologne Cathedral. The five-nave construction was built in the Gothic style, the plan was a cross shape with long and transept; mainly trachyte in the Siebengebirge mountains region served as a building material. At the beginning of the 14th century, the building was so far Advanced, that on the 27th September 1322 the choir could be inaugurated, the reliquary and the Gero Cross (10th century) were transferred to the new Cathedral; in the 15th century the entrance portals were completed and in 1418 a first Bell (blood or Bell of the three Kings) in the South Tower, the foundation stone for the North Tower was 1500 against at the end of the 15th century the building activity from lack of money almost completely came to a standstill, only much-needed repairs were performed by the Cathedral building Lodge. Only in the mid-19th century, the construction at the instigation of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV., and the members of the Cathedral building Association was continued; After the medieval plans had been found again in 1814, the final completion of the Cathedral took place in 1880, resulting in a construction period of over 600 years after them. Thus the Cologne Cathedral has a further superlative in addition to his height, in addition it has the heaviest free-swinging bell (Peter Bell, 24 tons) and the largest church facade of the world (Western facade, 7,000 m), as well as the largest choir of in Germany; together with the architecture, the Cathedral treasure and the two organs all are good reasons, to visit this attraction.