Evening Illumination: Cologne Cathedral's Magical Light Show

Cologne Cathedral is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture, attracting an average of 6 million visitors a year. The cathedral is illuminated by floodlights in the evenings, with the artificial lighting concept pushing interior lighting to its limits. However, there have been reports of the cathedral not being lit up at night since 2022 due to energy-saving issues.

Cologne Cathedral's lighting system

Cologne Cathedral is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. The cathedral is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996.

In 2006, engineer Walter Bamberger was awarded a tender to redesign the lighting of the cathedral's nave. Bamberger's design replaced the previous centralised control concept with flexible light control that is simple to operate and easy to maintain. The new lighting system uses DIGIDIM Routers by Helvar, which enable the decentralised positioning of components such as DALI transformers, ballasts, dimmers and relay units. This intelligent lighting design made assembly easy to maintain with plug connectors, which ensure smooth and fast component replacement.

The cathedral's lighting system is controlled by a wide 17-inch touch panel in the vestry, which can access 76 different programmed scenes. The various lighting scenes can be called up at the push of a button using unique names such as "organ concert" or "Pontifical High Mass". The user interface is intuitive and self-explanatory, allowing anyone to operate it without special training.

The lighting in the cathedral follows daylight throughout the day and year and adjusts subtly to changes in natural room illumination. This was a particular challenge for the lighting designer as the immense differences in height and large dimensions create further particular demands on lighting systems. To illuminate the arches, special secondary lights with high-voltage halogen and metal halide lamps are used, mounted out of sight at a height of 45 metres. Boom lights with gimbal lighting fixtures provide lighting in the pews and equal light density on the pillars. After services, these lights can be removed from the choir by motor.

The cathedral's lighting system is a technical challenge, with more than 1,000 individual lights in over 600 controllable groups mounted using more than 20km of cable. The highlight of the system is the intelligent component management in the Helvar DIGIDIM Router, which automatically configures replacement components during maintenance.

The cathedral's status as a tourist attraction

Cologne Cathedral is Germany's most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than six million visitors a year. It is also one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Europe. The cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a masterpiece of European Gothic architecture. Its construction began in the Middle Ages, in 1248, and was completed in 1880, after more than 500 years.

The cathedral is known for its intricate Gothic architecture, tall spires, and stunning stained glass windows, which are the largest in any church in the world. It is the third-largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world, standing at 157 metres tall, with 10,000 square metres of windows, and covering almost 8,000 square metres of floor space.

The cathedral is home to many valuable works of art, including the Shrine of the Magi, the largest surviving Romanesque reliquary, which has attracted pilgrims since the 12th century. The cathedral's treasury is open to the public, displaying sacred art and valuable finds.

The cathedral is also notable for its impressive organ, which fills its chambers with beautiful music. Visitors can climb the 533 steps to the viewing platform for a small fee, and enjoy the unique perspective of the cathedral's design and a wonderful view of the city.

Cologne Cathedral is usually open from 6 am to 8 pm, with tourist visits possible between 10 am and 5 pm on weekdays, and 1 pm to 4 pm on Sundays.

The cathedral's history

Cologne Cathedral, officially known as Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus, or Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year.

The History of the Cathedral

The site of Cologne Cathedral has been occupied by Christian churches since the 4th century. An older cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1248, and work on the present cathedral began immediately after. It was designed in the Gothic style, emulating French church architecture. The foundation stone was laid in 1248, and the first master builder was Master Gerhard. The cathedral was designed according to the northern French model and the most modern architectural style of the time: the Gothic style.

The choir was consecrated in 1322, but construction continued until 1560 or 1520, according to some sources. The project then stalled for centuries, with a large wooden crane left standing about 184 feet (56 meters) above the ground at the top of the south tower. During the 1790s, French Revolutionary troops occupied Cologne and used the cathedral as a stable and hay barn. Restoration work began in the 1820s, spurred on by Sulpiz Boisserée, a German proponent of the Gothic Revival movement.

In 1842, a new cornerstone was laid by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, and work to complete the cathedral resumed. The architects Ernst Friedrich Zwirner and Richard Voigtel led the project, guided by architectural drawings made around 1300. The interior was consecrated in 1848, and the edifice was finally completed in 1880, 632 years after construction began.

Cologne Cathedral became the tallest building in the world upon its completion, a distinction it held until 1884 when the Washington Monument was finished. It continued to be the world's tallest building until 1890, when it was surpassed by Ulm Cathedral in Germany.

During World War II, the cathedral suffered aerial bomb damage and was badly damaged. However, the medieval windows had been removed beforehand, and repairs were completed by 1956. In the late 20th century, work began to repair the effects of acid rain on the stonework.

In 1996, the cathedral was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it remains one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Northern Europe.

The cathedral's art and architecture

The Cologne Cathedral is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. The cathedral is a High Gothic five-aisled basilica with a projecting transept and a tower façade. The nave is 43.58 m high, and the side aisles are 19.80 m. The western section, nave and transept began in 1330, and changes in style are unnoticeable in the overall building. The 19th-century work follows the medieval forms and techniques faithfully.

The original liturgical appointments of the choir are still largely present. These include the high altar, with an enormous monolithic slab of black limestone believed to be the largest in any Christian church; the carved oak choir stalls (1308-11); the painted choir screens (1332-40); the fourteen statues on the pillars in the choir (c. 1300); and the great cycle of stained-glass windows, the largest existent cycle of early 14th-century windows in Europe. There is also an outstanding series of tombs of twelve archbishops between 976 and 1612.

The art treasures of the cathedral are many and varied. Near the high altar is the massive gold Shrine of the Three Kings, containing what are said to be relics of the Magi who attended the infant Jesus. The shrine, a masterpiece of medieval goldwork, was begun by the noted goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun in 1182, completed in about 1220, and originally installed in the predecessor cathedral. The altarpiece in the Lady Chapel (on the south wall of the choir) is a triptych entitled The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1445), made by Stefan Lochner, one of the outstanding painters of the Cologne school. The cathedral's oldest stained-glass windows were crafted in the 13th century.

More modern in style is an immense stained-glass window by the Cologne-based artist Gerhard Richter, completed in 2007 as a permanent replacement for the 19th-century glass destroyed in World War II. Richter's window consists of more than 11,000 square panes in 72 solid colours, seemingly randomly arranged within the many-mullioned window.

The cathedral's bells

Cologne Cathedral is home to eleven church bells, four of which are medieval. The Dreikönigsglocke, or Bell of the Three Kings, is the oldest, cast in 1418, installed in 1437, and recast in its current form in 1880. Weighing 3.8 tonnes, it is rung to represent the cathedral with its low C tone since 1923.

Two other medieval bells, the Pretiosa and the Speciosa, were installed in 1448 and remain in place today. The Pretiosa weighed in at 10.5 tonnes, making it the largest bell in the Western world at the time.

The largest bell is the St. Petersglocke, or Bell of St. Peter, also known as "Dicker Pitter" in the local Kölsch language. Weighing 24 tonnes, it was cast in 1922 and was the largest free-swinging bell in the world until a new bell was cast in Innsbruck for the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania. The St. Petersglocke is only rung on eight major holidays, including Easter and Christmas.

During the 19th century, as the cathedral neared completion, there was a desire to increase the number of bells. This was facilitated by Kaiser Wilhelm I, who donated French bronze cannon captured between 1870 and 1871 to be melted down for this purpose. The resulting bell, named the Kaiserglocke, weighed over 27,000 kilos, but its tone was not harmonious, and it was eventually melted down in 1918 to support the German war effort.

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