Cologne Cathedral

Step out of Cologne’s main station and the cathedral is simply there, a cliff of black-weathered Gothic stone filling the sky. It took 632 years to build, from 1248 to 1880, and for four years it was the tallest building on earth. It was built to house the relics of the Three Kings, which still lie in their gold shrine behind the high altar. One thing has changed: since July 2026 tourists pay to go in. Here is how the new tickets work, what is still free, and what to see.

Six centuries in the making

In 1164 Archbishop Rainald von Dassel brought the relics of the Three Kings to Cologne from Milan, spoils of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa’s Italian wars. Pilgrims followed in such numbers that the old cathedral could not cope, and on 15 August 1248 Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden laid the foundation stone of a new one, modelled on the latest French Gothic. The choir was consecrated in 1322. Then the money and the will ran out. Work petered out in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and for more than 300 years the south tower stood unfinished at about 56 metres, with a medieval crane on top that became the city’s landmark.

Romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, the rediscovery of the medieval plans and Prussian patronage revived the project. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV laid a new foundation stone in 1842, and the cathedral was completed on 15 October 1880 to the original design, 157 metres tall: the tallest building in the world until the Washington Monument overtook it in 1884. It is still the tallest twin-spired church. In the Second World War it was hit by 14 high-explosive bombs but stayed standing while the city around it was flattened. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1996.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

What to see, in the order you meet it

The west front

Stand back on the square first, though it is hard to get the whole thing in. The two towers, 157 metres high, rise from a single west front. Almost all of what you see is nineteenth-century work, built faithfully to a medieval drawing; the oldest part of the façade is the lower south tower, on the right. The portals are lined with carved figures, and the stone is dark because the sandstone has weathered almost black.

The nave

Inside, the scale takes over. The vault of the central nave is more than 43 metres high, and the piers rise unbroken to meet it. The windows of the south aisle were given by King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1848, and are known as the Bavarian windows. In the chapels round the choir, look for the Altar of the City Patrons, painted by Stefan Lochner around 1442 and one of the finest works of the Cologne school, in the Lady Chapel; the Milan Madonna, a carved figure of around 1290, is in the Sacrament Chapel, in the free prayer area.

The Shrine of the Three Kings

Behind the high altar, in a glass case, is the reason the cathedral exists: the Shrine of the Three Kings, a gilded silver reliquary shaped like a church, covered in enamel, gems and figures of prophets and apostles. It was begun around 1190 by the goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun and finished in the early thirteenth century. It is the largest reliquary of the Middle Ages. The three crowns on the city of Cologne’s coat of arms are theirs.

The Gero Cross

In a chapel off the ambulatory hangs the Gero Cross, carved in oak around 970 for Archbishop Gero. Christ is shown dead, his head dropped and his body sagging, which was new in its day. It is the oldest surviving large crucifix north of the Alps, set in a gilded Baroque sunburst and marble altar added in 1683.

The windows

The glass spans more than seven centuries, from the Bible Window of about 1260 in the axial chapel to Gerhard Richter’s window in the south transept, unveiled in 2007: 11,263 squares of glass in 72 colours, arranged partly at random. On a sunny afternoon it throws coloured light across the floor.

The tower

The climb is up the south tower, 533 steps on a narrow spiral stair and then a metal one, past the bell chamber where St Peter’s Bell hangs. Cast in 1923 and weighing about 24 tonnes, it is one of the largest free-swinging bells in the world and is rung only on major feasts. The platform is about 100 metres up, with the Rhine and the whole city below. The bell chamber is closed on Sundays and holidays until 2pm.

Tickets and tours

Don’t miss

• The Shrine of the Three Kings Behind the high altar.
• The Gero Cross In its chapel off the north side of the ambulatory.
• Lochner’s altarpiece The Altar of the City Patrons, in the Lady Chapel.
• The Richter window South transept; best on a sunny afternoon.
• The view from the tower 533 steps, about 100 metres up.
• The view from Deutz Across the Hohenzollern Bridge, especially at dusk.

Insider tips

To hear the cathedral rather than just see it, go to Mass. The services, with the cathedral choirs and the organ on Sundays, are free; at service times you normally go in by the main portal.

The tower and the treasury are separate tickets, and combine for €12. The treasury, in the medieval vaults beneath the sacristy on the north side, holds reliquaries, liturgical vessels and vestments.

For the photograph everyone wants, walk across the Hohenzollern Bridge, past the thousands of love locks, to the Deutz bank, and look back at sunset.

Where to stay and eat nearby

The cathedral stands beside the main station, a few minutes from the old town along the Rhine, where the brewery taverns serve Kölsch in small glasses. Hotels round the cathedral square are expensive; Deutz, across the river, is good value and has the view.

More churches in Germany

• Aachen Cathedral — Charlemagne’s chapel, 35 minutes to an hour away by train.

See all the German churches in this guide →