OCR Text |
Show Completion of the Cologne Catherdral. The present appears to be the fourth cathedral possessed by the City of Cologne. The first is presumed to have been erected by St. Maturus, A.D. 94. A second was commenced by Archbishop Hildebold about the year 819. This was destroyed by fire in 1050; and a third cathedral erected shortly afterwards shared the same fate in 1248, the same year in which the present magnificent structure was commenced by Archbishop Conrad von Iloesteden.? The magnificent choir was completed and consecrated in 1322, and the nave and transepts commenced he same year under an architect called "Meister Johann," who is supposed to have produced the design for the west front, now hanging up in the cathedral, which Has been strictly adhered to in completing the building. The erection of the nave seems to have been carried on pretty briskly during the fourteenth century, but to have lingered during the fifteenth, and to have been abandoned at the commencement of the sixteenth, probably on account of the religious troubles and disputes of the times. The following is the condition of the cathedral as left by the medieval builders. The choir with its aisles and sacristy were completed, half of the eastern walls of the transept were carried to their full height, the two northern aisles of the nave is high as the vaulting, the two southern aisles were only completed to the springing of the arches and the great southwest tower to about one third of its height. The whole, except of course the choir, was covered in with temporary roofs, and wonderfully interesting the old building looked in this condition. The grand architectural effect of the completed Cathedral was wanting, yet this was almost made up for by the strange, mysterious appearance of the vast unfinished church, the intense picturesqueness and that wondrous charm which real antiquity seems to give all buildings. As one entered the low-roofed nave, dark and gloomy, with vast unfinished columns, and then passed through the screen to the magnificent completed choir, with its lofty vaulting and superb stained glass windows, an impression was left upon the mind quite as lasting as that made by the finished building. The work of completing the Cathedral was commenced in 1812, and brought to a completion on Saturday, August 11th, 1880, the anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone 632 years before! The outlay since 1821 is stated to have been about $1,500,000 and a German architectural paper has estimated that from first to last $10,000,000 has been expended upon its erection. Some idea of the size of the vast structure may be gained from the following figures. The entire superficial area is about 82,500 feet; Whoewell gives the internal area as 62,918, and Westminster Abbey as 32,189. The length of Cologne Cathedral is 180 feet, height to the top of the spires, 515 feet, being the loftiest building in the world, and 65 feet higher than the Great Pyramid. |