Only in Cologne by Duncan J.D. Smith

34 11 Innenstadt Cathedral Curiosities Innenstadt (Altstadt-Nord) (Borough 1), a tour of curiosities in Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) at Domkloster 4 Stadtbahn 5, 16, 18 Dom/Hauptbahnhof; Bus 132 There is no shortage of superlatives when it comes to describing the most famous landmark in Cologne. Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), or more correctly the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Mary (Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und St. Marien), the seat of the Catholic Arch- bishop of Cologne, was constructed between 1248 and 1880. Not only is it the largest church in Germany but it also boasts the world’s second tallest spire. It is also the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe, its choir has the largest height to width ratio of any medieval church, and it presents the largest façade of any church anywhere. Little won- der that it attracts thirty thousand visitors a day, and that hidden in its historic fabric are more than a few oddities and curiosities. This tour begins outside the cathedral’s main west façade, where a series of sturdy bronze doors installed in 1887 are the work of the little- known church architect and painter Hugo Schneider (1841–1925). It’s a shame how few people pause to marvel at his wonderfully intricate designs. The left-hand corner of the façade deserves special attention as it was here that a SecondWorldWar bomb once threatened to bring down the northwest spire. The insertion of an emergency brick buttress was required, which remained in place until 2005, when it was replaced with the newly carved blocks of sandstone seen today.Within the thick- ness of the stonework there is a spiral staircase, something considered too audacious by the architects of the older, south-western corner of the façade. They instead placed their staircase inside an offset pier, which resulted in the curious half-windows in that part of the building. Moving around to the south, past the doors of the southern tran- sept, with their unusual motifs by the German sculptor Ewald Mataré (1887–1965), the cathedral workshop (Dombauhütte) is reached, where a team of expert stonemasons create new architectural elements to re- place those eroded by the elements. When the flying buttresses high above were restored during the 1930s they were inscribed with the date and a Nazi swastika, although this is not visible from the ground. Dur- ing restoration work in the 1950s and 60s the heads of politicians, such as Kennedy, Kruschev, MacMillan and De Gaul, were incorporated into the stonework. There are tiny carved footballers up there, too, recalling