Instant gratification is a relatively new concept to us. 750 years ago buildings didn't fly up and become habitable in months. In fact, Cologne Cathedral took over 600 years to build. SIX HUNDRED YEARS. But at the time of its completion, it was the tallest building in the world. (A title it held for four short years.)
Work on the facade, which stood uncompleted for 400 years, was re-started in 1842 upon discovery of the original plans dating to 1248. The twin towers alone cost the equivalent of over $1 billion in today's currency.
60 years after the towers were finally built, the cathedral suffered 14 hits from bombers in WWII.
In 1996, UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List.
I like to think that I'm reasonably well-informed about the world outside of my little State (certainly compared to some, who thing the EU is a computer language), but I knew nothing of the cathedral at all when I happened upon a photo of it on TrekEarth (which, BTW, is a very cool site). So courtesy of the ubiquitous Wikipedia, I learned a bit about the Cologne Cathedral and I'm sharing it with the seven people who actually read this blog.
1 comment:
And one of the seven thanks you. I knew that these things took awhile to put up, but 600 years? The cathedral at Reims took about a century I think. Six times that is lunacy. Some love them some Jesus.
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