The Cologne Cathedral dazzles the eye with its grandeur and grace. Much photographed and written about, even viewed from across the river it dominates the landscape of the city.
Built upon the Rhine River and founded in the 1st century, Cologne was a substantive and fortified city for the Northern frontier of the Roman Empire. At that time, the city was a well-fortified, walled square, on the western bank of the river, with a fortified bridge roughly to the location from which this photograph was taken, that led to a barracks. If you look at the boards in the bottom right of the photograph, you can see a schematic of this construction.
The cathedral is on the northern end of the original city, while in the modern city it lies in the heart of town, with the railway station nearby.
Inside the cathedral, the grandeur of its construction is apparent. I’m sure awe-inspiring at the time of its construction, it still leaves one speechless, and the climb to the top for the view of the city is well worth the climb.
