Showing posts with label European Cathedrals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Cathedrals. Show all posts
Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope that your week is off to a wonderful start! I am taking a brief break today from sharing about my Alaska trip to share one of a few remaining posts that I have from the Rhine River Cruise that my mom and I took in December and January. Today I am so excited to share a little bit about the beautiful and amazing exterior of the Cologne Cathedral (or Kolner Dom as it is called in German) that we visited on our 5th day of our River Cruise.
Back in June I shared that on our 5th day of our Rhine River cruise we had the amazing opportunity to spend the morning cruising the Middle Rhine River. (You can read about the first part of our scenic cruising HERE and the second part HERE!) Then we spent the afternoon and early evening exploring the beautiful city of Cologne, Germany before spending the rest of the day at the Cologne Cathedral. (You can read more about a walk through historic cologne HERE.)
As a quick background the Cologne Cathedral is a renowned monument with a ton of amazing history that spans several centuries and was declared a world heritage site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark of all time with the average number of visitors being nearly 20,000 people each day! It is also the tallest twin-spired church (515 feet tall) in the world.
Construction of the Cologne Cathedral began in 1248, but was stopped in 1473 leaving it unfinished. Nearly four hundred years went by before work was resumed on this beautiful cathedral and it was finally completed (according to the original plan from the 13th century) in 1880.
The Cologne Cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the largest facade of any church in the world. The only word that I can think of when we walked up and approached the cathedral is absolutely stunning. We simply stood there in awe of the building and also the way the cathedral has withstood the test of many things over its existence.
Interestingly when the cathedral was being built, it was found that the site had been the site of many previous churches and from as early as the 4th century it has been occupied by christian buildings.
One of the most interesting parts of the Cathedral's history for me was the history of its World War II survival. (I am sure this is not a huge surprise with my love of 20th century and the recent start up of Twenty History Lane. *smiles*)
For those who may not be familiar with the history of the cathedral in World War II, the cathedral suffered fourteen direct hits by bombs during the war. While the structure was badly damaged, it amazingly stayed standing and structurally sound, amidst the decimated city it is in.
During World War II the cathedral and the immediate area of Cologne were the site of intense ariel bombs and also the site of numerous tank combats between the Americans (3rd Armored Division) and Germans (Panther Ausf. A). After the Americans destroyed a Panther it was actually put on display at the base of the Cathedral for the remainder of the War.
In 1944 the cathedral needed an emergency repair on the Northwest Tower's base so this was carried out at that time. The brick that was used was taken from a nearby ruined building and was quite visible. For decades though this was left on purpose as a reminder of the war. In 2005 the decision was made to restore the section to its original appearance, but a few photographs in the museum still show the repairs done in 1944.
I hope you enjoyed these pictures and a brief explanation of the exterior architecture of the Cologne Cathedral! In my next post from our Europe trip I can't wait to share more about the inside of the Cologne Cathedral and its unique treasures it holds! If you are interested in reading more about our Basel to Amsterdam cruise on Viking, you can click on the links below:
// Viking River Cruises: Answers to Your Most FAQ's //
// Viking Eir Ship Review // Viking Eir Stateroom 203 Review // Viking Eir Food and Dining Review //
// The Cologne Cathedral (Exterior) // A Walk Through Historic Cologne // Cruising the Middle Rhine (Part One) // Cruising the Middle Rhine River (Part Two) // A Brief History of Old Town Colmar // Saint Martin's Collegiate Church (Place de la Cathedrale)//
// 7 Things You Must See When You Visit Old Town Colmar in the Winter //
// A Brief History of Beautiful Strasbourg // A Walk through Historic Strasbourg //Place Saint Thomas //
// Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre Dame of Strasbourg) // Heidelberg Castle //
// A Walk Through Old Town Heidelberg // Hofgut Sternen in the Black Forest //
// A Walk through Historic Downtown Basel // Basel Cathedral (Basel Munster) //
// Viking Eir Ship Review // Viking Eir Stateroom 203 Review // Viking Eir Food and Dining Review //
// The Cologne Cathedral (Exterior) // A Walk Through Historic Cologne // Cruising the Middle Rhine (Part One) // Cruising the Middle Rhine River (Part Two) // A Brief History of Old Town Colmar // Saint Martin's Collegiate Church (Place de la Cathedrale)//
// 7 Things You Must See When You Visit Old Town Colmar in the Winter //
// A Brief History of Beautiful Strasbourg // A Walk through Historic Strasbourg //Place Saint Thomas //
// Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre Dame of Strasbourg) // Heidelberg Castle //
// A Walk Through Old Town Heidelberg // Hofgut Sternen in the Black Forest //
// A Walk through Historic Downtown Basel // Basel Cathedral (Basel Munster) //
Happy Tuesday friends! I hope that your week has started off well! Last week I shared that on our 5th day of our Rhine River cruise we had the amazing opportunity to spend the morning cruising the Middle Rhine River. (You can read about the first part of our scenic cruising HERE!)
It was a beautiful experience and definitely one of our favorite parts of the trip (even if we did freeze! hahaha!) and I am so excited to share with y'all some more pictures from the morning.
It truly felt like a storybook come to life.
As we watched the rolling hills and European towns and castles pass us by I had so many moments of just awe. It definitely felt like you were transported back to another time.
One of the neatest things was experiencing this area of the world by river cruising. I know that I have shared before the differences between river and ocean cruising (you can read the post HERE), but seeing this area of the world by cruising was a special treat. I definitely walked away from the trip and this time really feeling that I had experienced this area of the world versus just seeing it from a distance.
Being so close to each of the towns and castles made me dream of future trips to come and spend time at these individual towns. All of the quaintness just was lovely.
It seemed like around every bend there was a beautiful new castle or cathedral to see!
Each of the castles were so unique in their shape and their structure and yet had a similarity to them too.
This castle above was one of the most intriguing I felt. During the scenic cruising (as I mentioned) the tour director told us the names and some brief stories and history about each of the castles that we were seeing. We enjoyed our time to much to write notes but it was interesting to learn about and later on we purchased a Rhine River Castle Book to help us with our scrapbooking of the trip!
The sun throughout the morning would peak in and out and while we had a few moments of rain, it really was a beautiful day.
Hearing about the stories and lives of those from a different era put a personal note on each of the castles and towns that we were seeing. It was a gentle reminder that we all are creating history each day of our lives with the choices that we make.
Sometimes in the day to day it can become easy to forget that, but as I took a step back and really thought about what we were seeing and learning (and hearing some of the tragic stories of those who made some bad decisions) it was a great reminder to treasure the moments and love deeply those around us.
As the scenic cruising part of the morning started to come to a close my mom and I both agreed that it was one of our favorite parts of our trip!
If you ever have an opportunity to cruise the Rhine River- definitely jump at the chance to go and do so! You will not regret it!
As Marksburg castle came into view our scenic cruising time came to an end. We visited Marksburg Castle in the afternoon on the 5th day and I can't wait to share more about that - it was really neat to see that castle!
I hope that you loved getting a look at the scenic cruising on the Middle Rhine! If you are interested in reading more about our Basel to Amsterdam cruise on Viking, you can click on the links below:
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