Why is Cologne Cathedral famous?
Cologne Cathedral also known as Koln Dome is an exquisite masterpiece of Gothic and Neo-Gothic architecture, delighting visitors from all over the globe.
A treasure awaits you just a few steps from the altar: the enigmatic sarcophagus of the Three Kings, believed to house the sacred remains of the Three Magi who traveled to witness the birth of Jesus bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The Architect
Legend has it that the architect Gerhard of Ryle made a pact with the devil to build the Kolner Dom (Cologne Cathedral).
The architect was asked to build an unprecedented cathedral made all sorts of sketches and began to build the cathedral. But all kinds of obstacles prevented him from raising it.
The Pact with the Devil
One day, the architect sits down on a rock by a river and sleep steals him. The stone was called the Devil‘s Stone. When he woke up, a stranger was drawing in the sand with a stick. Great was his astonishment to see the outline of an immense cathedral drawn on the sand. The architect asked the stranger, who was the devil, what he wanted in exchange for the plans of the cathedral and the stranger replied that he wanted his soul, his wife’s soul, and their son’s soul if he would finish the cathedral in 3 years.
“If the building is not ready until the rooster crows on the day they turn 3, you can keep your soul”.
The architect, thinking that the cathedral was too big and grandiose to be built in 3 years, accepted the fair.
Work on the Devil’s Cathedral has begun and step by step the cathedral rises grandly in the middle of the city.
The Wife
The architect’s wife found out about the pact her husband had made with the devil and began to think about how to fool the devil.
One day, in the square, he saw a child imitating the rooster’s song, and every time he made the sound, roosters could be heard answering him. The idea immediately came to her of how to make her husband win the pact with the devil.
After 3 years, at night, the Kolner Dom workers were preparing to finish and the devil was preparing to claim the architect’s family’s souls. That morning, the architect’s wife woke up and began to mimic the sound of the rooster long before sunrise. Roosters from all over the town heard the sound and began to respond. Only after the roosters crowed did the devil manage to finish the cathedral.
The End of the World
The legend goes that the devil lost a bet and cursed the Cologne Cathedral, proclaiming that anyone attempting to finish its construction would never succeed. It was foretold that if the cathedral was ever completed, it would signal the end of the world. To this day, work on the cathedral remains ongoing.
Probably because of this nobody dares to lay the last stone and the Kolner Dom is under continuous construction.
