Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral, Roman Catholic cathedral in the German city of Cologne, begun in 1248 and completed in 1880. Cologne Cathedral was erected on the site of a stone chapel built in the 6th century. The present building, in Gothic style (see Gothic Art and Architecture), is dedicated to the Three Kings who are said to have visited the infant Jesus. It houses a shrine, constructed between 1180 and 1230 and designed by French goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun, which contains what are believed to be the remains of the Three Kings.

The cathedral choir, the design of which shows the influence of the Gothic cathedrals of northern France, especially Amiens Cathedral and Reims Cathedral, was finished in 1322. The building's twin spires, 156 m (512 ft) high, were begun in 1310. The interior of the cathedral is notable for a statue of the Virgin Mary known as the Mailänder Madonna and made about 1290; 104 richly carved wooden choir stalls dating from about 1320; several 14th-century stained-glass windows; and a carpet woven about 1640 and modeled on a design by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.