Great St. Martin: detailed report

Great St. Martin is a well-known church, which was built according to the pre-Gothic or Romanesque style, ie the Romantic. Even today you can find this building in a very good condition in Cologne on the fish market in the old town of Cologne and examine. The church is framed by the many small houses and buildings that were built in the 1970s and 1980s, making the old town what it is today: a place to visit at least once in a lifetime.

And so does the Church of Great St. Martin. This magnificent building was built with three naves , so it has three naves and therefore looks very splendid. The chancel, also called the chancel of the building, has a cloverleaf shape. On the other hand, a quadrangular tower rises from the so-called crossing. At each of its four corners is another, smaller tower.

All in all, it's a very nice building that draws the town on the left side of the Rhine and is definitely worth a visit or a visit.

General introduction

To give you a brief overview, here are some interesting facts and information about the building described above: In the historic Cologne Rhine suburb the magnificent building or the basilica was built in the middle of the 12th century . Another interesting fact is that the basilica was built on the foundations of buildings or buildings of the Romans. To come back to the Rhine suburbs: it is also known as a former Rhine island, so it no longer exists today.

In the 19th century, when a Benedictine monastery was secularised, which for centuries served as the basilica's abbey church, it was converted into a parish church. During the Second World War, this church suffered very high levels of damage caused by air raids by enemy countries. Even the tower of the church was badly damaged and had to be rebuilt and renewed until the year 1965. The reconstruction of the entire church, however, lasted until the year 1985. When, forty years later, the Second World War finally came to an end, another consecration of the church was carried out.

Great St. Martin has been visited by interested people since the year 2009, or by those who share the faith there . The building serves as a new seat of the communities of Jerusalem since this year as a monastery church. As mentioned earlier in the text, the building was built on the foundations of Roman buildings and constructions. This also plays an important role for the newly built crypt of the church, as it is now possible to see and examine excavations from the time of the Romans.

Outbuildings

In addition to the Basilica of Great St. Martin, there is also another church that exists to honor St. Martin. Here is the talk of a market church, which is unfortunately not so well preserved today, and of which only the tower exists. It could indeed be the case that this church, which bears the name of Little St. Martin, is even older than the basilica described above. In order to better distinguish the two churches, they were baptized on these two names mentioned above, which differ only slightly from each other.

The story

After this short and concise overview, the following article will now focus on the history of the Church and inform you about the most important and interesting facts. So if you want to shine with some background knowledge at your next visit to Cologne, be sure to stay tuned. It's worth it!

In the History of the Great St. Martin , the Benedictine monastery mentioned above also plays a decisive role. Since the two buildings were closely related to each other and were also dependent on each other, the decisions and decisions of the Benedictine abbey also had an impact on the history of the basilica. About the foundation of the church and the church there is only very limited information material , which also contains a record of the construction or other documents, before . Thus, it must be based on art historical considerations or archaeological findings to understand the construction of the church and explain.

The first point in the history of the church are Roman predecessors and their archaeological findings: to the east of the praetorium lay the Rhine island. It preceded the Cologne of the Roman period and it initially belonged to the site that surrounded the Church of Great St. Martin.

The fact that this area around the church since the first century AD building land and thus was built, confirmed some excavations. These were carried out in the years 1965 and 1966, but also in the period between the years 1973 and 1979. Even the first development of this site turned out to be very interesting. It was a place surrounded by a wall. This plant had a minimum length of 76 meters and extended in an east-west direction. Also at the width of the plant was obviously not saved at that time: it was namely 71.5 meters wide. In addition, there was a slightly lower area, which was located in the middle or in the interior of the rest of the square. This area was 55.7 by 43.8 meters tall. In addition to this place was located in the interior of the plant also a kind of pool. This basin had the dimensions 34 times 17.2 meters and was 1.7 meters deep. This plant seemed to be something very special, because otherwise, especially in the north of the Alps, no similar or comparable facilities were found or are known. Unfortunately, the use and the use of the place is difficult and uncertain, as no further information has been handed down.

Nonetheless, researchers and individuals in the field managed to compile some theories and information. The huge, free space was used according to the theories of the researchers as a kind of free area , on which humans could operate various sports. Also, the water basin was attributed by the researchers and scientists an earlier use: namely, it should have been then, as was almost likely to have been used as a kind of swimming pool. Another use for this basin could also have been a storage place for various shells and fish species, which the fishermen on the Rhine had previously fished.

In fact, this is not the only theory that could apply to the entire facility. Another possibility is still in the conversation: It could also be the case that our above-mentioned place in former times was actually a holy district or sacred place. So it could possibly be that the still unknown Ara Ubiorum found its location there.

In the second century

We are now in history many years later, more precisely in the middle of the second century. In this period, the entire space was increased by about 1.5 to 2 meters. In addition, new structures were built on this site. These buildings were four halls. These four halls each had three naves and were erected in three different directions: east, south and west. The direction north was omitted here. The three halls were located directly on the banks of the Rhine and were therefore ideally suited as warehouses, in which various goods, with which the people acted at that time, could be accommodated. This also proved the design and orientation of the buildings. Thus, the old, overbuilt course was replaced by a new, 7000 square meter facility. Also this new plant was enclosed by a wall. This wall was in the north of the square.

If you go further in the story, three of the halls are either ignored or unknown, or if they were still used in the post-antiquity period. On the other hand, one of the four halls built to the south or east is known to have continued to be used. The floor or screed of the hall was renewed three times, preserving the older floors. This is because the newer floors were simply placed on the older floor, so this virtually hidden. What you may not believe right now: even the floor of this building brings with it some interesting information and secrets. The floor originally consisted of a smoothed plaster of sandstone. Subsequently, it was sealed with a profiled base. Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine exactly from which time this base originated. So it could be that it was applied in Roman times, but also the early medieval time is not excluded.

Also, shards were discovered in the floor, most likely from the Carolingian epoch . This can be stated so clearly, since it concerns shards of Pingsdorfer ceramic.

In order to gather more information about the history of this site, in 1965 and 1966, respectively, the soil stratification or stratigraphy of the church known today was investigated. To do this, you went along the central axis of the church. One made a long cut and thus penetrated to about two meters below the floor of the church, where they made an interesting find: there were found under the earth many graves or burials. These came from the Middle Ages but also from modern times.

The Martinskirche

Later in the text, it will now be why the Martinskirche was founded . Here assumptions are made, which are based on facts and information. It will also be about which chronicles are wrong and therefore wrong.

There is no information from the time when the church is supposed to be founded, that is, before the tenth century. Nevertheless, the historiographer Aegidius Gelenius, who incidentally came from Cologne, was more concerned with this area or period of time. According to his assumptions, it should be possible that the church was built in the pre-Carolingian period or even originated. About his theories and conjectures he wrote in 1645 a book entitled "Praise of the City of Cologne". At the actual foundation of the church and also the monastery two missionaries are said to have been involved, which were accompanied by a certain Suibert to the river, the Rhine. The two missionaries were Viro and Plechelmus. Suibert, however, was later the abbot of a monastery, more precisely, the monastery Kaiserswerth. These were also supported, because Pippin the Middle and Plektrudis helped them with the foundation. Pippin the Middle and Plektrudis were known to have also founded St. Mary in the Capitol.

Fake Chronicle

Now we come to a chronicle, which turned out to be a counterfeit after being later exposed. This is the chronicle Chronicon Sancti Martini Coloniensis, which supposedly came either from the 13th or the 14th century. In fact, the chronicle was written in 1730 by a Benedictine monk named Oliver Legipont . He was then a monk at St. Martin.

For a very long time, ie until the end of the 19th century, this chronicle was considered credible and correct in content. Of course, this also influenced the history of the church and the abbey, since the chronicle was the only source. It was not until Otto Oppermann dealt with this document in 1900 that the entire chronicle was exposed as false and untrustworthy.

Let's return briefly to the content of this chronicle: In 690, when he had a building, or more precisely a smaller chapel, built and built, the Scottish man, who bore the name Tilmon, was to become the church St. Martin or its predecessor band. Only a few years later, more precisely in 708, this small chapel was then converted into a monastery. At that time, Viro, Plechelmus and Otger had taken over. Furthermore, the chronicle seemed to be very credible, as it documented many incidents and events close to complete. Among them many also the many names of the abbots, who had already accepted this post in very early times. But other, not very pleasing events such as the destruction of the church and the associated monastery were documented. Specifically, this event refers to the year 778.

The destruction took place this year by the Saxons. This was the case since Charlemagne had been in Spain this year and was at war there. The construction of the church and the monastery took place a few years later by a paladin who took almost the entire cost of the restoration alone. This is the Dane Prince Olger. Now it has to be said that Charlemagne helped him rebuild these buildings and supported him. In the year 802, Pope Leo II finally made his second visit to Cologne. During this visit, two altars of the previously restored buildings were blessed or consecrated by the pope. Only a few years later, the chronicle again reported a severe destruction of the two buildings. It happened in 846 and 882, when the Normans took over this role.

As described above this chronicle was a forgery , so this information about the history of St. Martin is unfortunately not correct.

Protectorate

As you could already derive from today's name de church, this is under the patronage of the patron Saint Martin of Tours. This patron was considered very popular in the Franconian period and was therefore used often and for many churches. Often these churches were built in a period of time from the 7th to the 9th century or even founded. While there is no concrete information or tradition that this theory applies to the church described above, most researchers and experts assume that.

The construction of the monastery

The following section of this text will be about what the so-called collegiate foundation is all about. The text will also deal with the construction of the monastery in the period from the 10th to the 11th century and what happened there. Followed by interesting information, so stay tuned!

Despite many unbelievable sources, it is considered credible information that the monastery was founded by the nunnery Brun. Brun was then the Archbishop of Cologne and held this office from the year 953 to the year 965th The founding of the monastery took place at that time to honor Martin of Tours, hence the name of the monastery or the church. This information was taken from the Lorsch Codex and is considered credible and correct. Already during Brun lived he donated something very special to the church Groß St. Martin: Hiebei was a very valuable relic, which originated from St. Eliphius. St. Eliphius was a Christian man who some time after his death was appointed the second patron saint of the Martinskirche, alongside Martin of Tours. However, some time later, the relics of St. Eliphius from the French city of Toul were moved to another place, more precisely to the monastery, which was re-established.

Further developments

Further improvements to the church were made by Archbishop Warin of Cologne, who held office from 976 until the year 985. This information, recorded in 1499, comes from Koelhoff's chronicle.
Also, just this information or source indicates that the church of St. Martin could be very old and thus was built a long time ago.

Archbishop Warin of Cologne, who is said to have gifted so much to the church, is said to have even spent his last life, ie his retirement, in the abbey described above. Another Archbishop, or more precisely Archbishop Everger, who held office from 985 until the year 999, is said to have influenced the history of the Church of St. Martin: The Archbishop is said to have bestowed the monastery with a generous gift. Thus, it was converted in 989 in a certain way, namely in a Scottish monastery. As you might expect, Scots lived in this Schottenkloster. They are also referred to as Irish Benedictines.

The Scots are coming!

This time, in which the Scots settled in the monastery, falls within a certain period of time. This period is delineated by two other events related to the Scots branch: the first is a few branches of the above-mentioned group in the Merovingian-Carolingian period, and the second event is that a monastery band formed by many individual, small, independent Benedictine Schotten monasteries at a certain place. This place was Regensburg. The event described above took place around the middle of the eleventh century.

In the same century, that is to say the eleventh century, these monks coming from Scotland were exchanged by local monks and thus replaced . This process of replacing "foreign monks" was allegedly supported by Archbishop Pilgrim of Cologne. The archbishop took office from 1021 until the year 1036 and is said to have disrespected, more precisely to despise, the Scottish monks. Therefore, he contributed to the above process and favored it. Nevertheless, the Scottish monks were able to assert themselves for a long time and maintain their offices or their role in the monastery. Thus, the last, known head of the monastery was a man named Alvold. However, this abbot still lived many years after the process described above and died thus only in the year 1103. From the year 1056 lived for some time still another, well-known and also important person in the Martinskirche. This person is Marianus Scotus. Because this man lived there in the church, researchers now believe that other people who came from Scotus area had settled in the church for a short time to live there.

The construction

Now let's take a closer look at the history of the construction of the Martinskirche , which art historians have been dealing with for a long time. Excavations in this area some time ago found remnants of a wall. These were located below a side aisle wall of the church. It is the northern wall. To come back to the remains of the wall: These reached to the yoke of the existing church or the building. It is believed that these remains belonged to a former church, which was built under the direction of the above-mentioned Cologne Archbishop Brun. It is therefore assumed that the west wall was located seven meters further to the north. Now you should already have noticed that this width also corresponded to the width of the old Roman warehouse, which previously stood there. Because of this, some historians suspect that the excavated walls could simply be the outline of the old warehouse.

In addition, Archbishop Anno the Second, who held office from 1056 until the year 1075, also contributed to the history of the church. In a known source, more specifically the Vita Annonis, is reported by a very bizarre event. The then Archbishop Anno the second is said to have seen the source as a consequence of Saint Eliphius. His reaction was to have been the construction of two towers. These two towers were probably a twin tower on the east choir.

The new Romanesque style building

The next section of this article will discuss what happened to the church in the 12th or 13th century, or more specifically to a Romanesque style building. Interesting information follows, be curious and keep reading!
The year 1150 is a year in the history of the Church, which brought devastating consequences. This year broke out in Cologne a huge fire , which destroyed almost the entire city on the Rhine. Also affected by the fire was thus the church, which belonged to the Benedictine monastery. Researchers are not sure exactly how much the church was damaged by the fire. However, they believe that the destruction of the church by the Brandt caused the people to demolish the rest of the already destroyed and burnt down church.

After the old church was finally demolished, construction of the new church began . Relatively at the beginning of the construction of the three-conch choir was built. This part of the church is almost the only part that was not rebuilt in later times. So it is still today almost exactly as it was then built. This is because almost all other parts of the building have been rebuilt or altered. This is, for example, the speech of the crossing tower of the building. But the nave and west end were also affected by the conversions. In 1172, for the first time, the building only consisted of the fourth tower, other elements were probably just built. It was the same year in which Archbishop Phillip the first of Heinsberg consecrated the construction. At the apse of the building, which lay in the northern direction, there was an extension.

This was a Benedictine chapel, two stories high. This Benedictine chapel played an important role again some time later, as a special corpse was brought there: it is the corpse of Abbot Helias, who died in 1042. Over the years, the church was built and improved on and on until finally the yoke of the nave, which lay in the eastern direction, was completed. On the southern side, too, the construction finally progressed, as the other side aisles were also completed. These aisles touched the north wall of an older parish church that stood there. This parish church bore the name St. Brigiden. Researchers suspect that these points of contact led to the defects on the south wall of the Martinskirche. Over the years, the new building was therefore more and more completed, but unfortunately a renewed fire in 1185 slowed down this construction process slightly. Further information on the construction of the building comes from a period in which the Abbot Simon from the year 1206 up to the year 1211 held his office.

Unfortunately, the conventual brother Rudengerus died during this time, but he donated part of his property to the church. In his will, he bequeathed to the church, besides some other things, seven thalers and 30 denarii. From this money could be paid more stones for the construction of the building. In the middle of the thirteenth century, further changes were made to the church: the already somewhat outdated and not very new walls, which were located above the aisles, were rebuilt into something new, namely walkways. Added to this was the conversion of the niches of the triforium. These were pricked out. The aim was to give the building a certain lightness and thus beauty, which should be solved by these measures. In addition, the nave was supplemented by five meters in length. Finally, there was an addition, namely a two-bay porch, which was located in the west of the ship, added.

The completion

When finally the completion of the Martinskirche took place, nevertheless, in the course of the time, still some further changes took place. The church continued to develop during the 14th to the 17th century. The next section of the article deals exactly with these changes: As described above, the building or church was finished in the middle of the 13th century. After that, almost no changes were made to the basilica, and the building remained as it was in the 19th century. Unfortunately, there are some destructions that require restoration or restoration of the church. Many parts of the building were damaged, but the most affected was the crossing tower. This tower was damaged in 1378, for example. This year, a big fire broke out again, which was responsible for the destruction and the necessary restoration work.

Since there was not much money for the reconstruction of the building at that time, it had to be financed by donations, etc. But not only the element of fire caused serious damage to the building. A few years later, more precisely in 1434, a heavy storm broke out. This storm also caused severe damage to the basilica. The heavy wind caused by just this storm blew down parts of the tower. These components were gables. A total of four gables were attached to the tower, with three gables were blown down.

This also caused damage to the surrounding Cologne fish market , as well as to the church itself. Two of the three fallen gables landed on the vaults of the church, which were above the high altar. Of course, these damages also started renovation work. Proof of this is the bell, which was used two years later, in which the year 1436 was engraved.

The financial situation

Another very important topic was the financial situation and possibilities of the Benedictine abbey. This situation was improved when the abbot Jacob Wachendorp, who held office from the year 1439 to the year 1454, and Adam Meyer, who, however, held office from the year 1454 up to the year 1499, improved and consolidated , As a result of these reforms, the financial situation of the church improved among the two abbots. As a result, more money was also available for the renovation and generally for the interior of the church. Many of these, sometimes very expensive pieces, are still preserved today. These include, for example, pieces from the year 1509. These pieces are figures that were placed at that time on the Kreuzaltar.

As mentioned in the text above, some years ago a violent storm had brought down three of the four gables attached to the tower of the church. These were, as one would have expected, not renovated, but replaced in the years 1450-1460 by another type of roof: It was the built according to the Gothic style kink pyramid.

Another event was caused by the incomplete construction of part of the basilica: it was the flanking westward direction. The event occurred in 1527. As the towers were generally very unstable, the turrets lying in the south-westerly direction collapsed. When it crashed, a chapel was damaged in the area where the tower had fallen to the ground. The damaged chapel was the Magdalen Chapel. It was badly damaged but was not rebuilt or renovated. On the contrary: the building was demolished because it was so badly damaged. Even inside St. Martin's Church it has remained the same throughout the years. Since the time of the Middle Ages there were many different altars in the church. These medieval altars, however, have been replaced by newer models. These newer models were altars with an early Baroque style. These specimens were from the 17th century, but unfortunately not all of them have survived to this day.

In the 18th century

The next section of this article deals with the period of the eighteenth century and the impact of various events on the church. For example, the influence of Classicism or Baroque on the church is discussed in greater detail. It remains exciting and informative so I recommend you to keep reading!

Under the leadership of the Abbot Heinrich Obladen some changes and reformation were carried out at the Martin's Church and also at some associated buildings or societies. For example, in 1707, on his orders, the abbey building was demolished. This building was already very dilapidated and damaged anyway, so it was decided to complete the demolition. Some time later, the already demolished abbey building was replaced by a new building. In addition to these, external renovations, were also renovated and improved within the church of Great St. Martin. For example, the church was blessed with a new organ even larger than its predecessor. In addition, the interior of the church was also repainted.

The Baroque style

These embellishments and new touch-ups were marked by the style which bears the name Baroque . A sign of this style were therefore on the one hand bands in golden color. These ribbons adorned parts of the interior of the church, such as some of the pillars there, but also some domes and even walls. Of course, these were not the only signs of this style, he was also supplemented by four lights, which were relatively heavy. There were also other gems or pieces typical for this style.

These were some of the changes of the first half of the eighteenth century, but even in the second half of this century, one should not go out of business. However, one has to say that these drastic innovations met people who were not completely satisfied with them at the time. In the eighteenth century they therefore already criticized the new plays. Under the leadership of the abbot Franz Spix, who held office from 1741 until the year 1759, further changes were made and carried out. For example, the height of the area around the altar of the altar was changed. It was raised a little over two feet.

The altar itself, however, has been assigned a different location. It has been moved to the apsea, which is a little further back. Since this conversion must have had an intention, researchers assume that the abbot wanted to make these changes within the church the Holy Mass more complex and therefore certainly also more magnificent. Unfortunately, the conversion also had some disadvantages and bad consequences. Some of these consequences included the destruction of many grave slabs. These grave plates were not just any, but the abbots. Another example refers to the pillars or pillars within the church. Since the floor was changed, some of these pillars were incomplete, more precisely without a pedestal, in the church. Of course, these disadvantages were also noticed by the community or by other people, who then criticized a lot of things. One of the critics was, for example, Oliver Legipont. Despite this fierce criticism, which therefore existed at that time, and despite many other measures, nothing could be changed in the planned or already performed work and conversions. Other measures that have been taken include some protest notes. These were brought to Cologne, then to the papal nuncio, and filed there.

Ferdinand Franz Wallraf

Ferdinand Franz Wallraf it was, which was commissioned almost forty years later with a redesign of the basilica. So it was the end of the 18th century, when the work was taken up again. This time, however, the respective changes in style differed. Here was the style with the name Baroque very pronounced. Now it has to be said that there was another style in the game that influenced the Baroque: It was the still relatively early Classicism. Experts state these facts that components such as pulpits or secondary altars had a very simple design, whereas the altar, more precisely the high altar, was very sumptuously designed with a great deal of effort. Its design also had parallels with the Roman-Greek world of the gods.

This design at the time is referred to today as the Wallrafsches Bildprogramm . The opinions are split here, depending on which area they come from. People who are behind the renewal movement of the Catholic Church, which took place in the 19th century, or behind the historicism, feel the former design as bad and not very good. It also happens that this is called "pagan" or simply dismissed away. The exact opposite side of this opinion, however, represent people who view the Wallrafsche image program from an art historical perspective. Many of these people are simply away enthusiastic about this work and find it very good and successful.

These aspects mentioned above were just some of the many changes that have been made to the inner space of the Church. The idea of ​​a larger scale change came in 1789. The flanking tower of the building, which lay to the northwest, had already decayed over the years and needed some restoration. However, it was decided not to restore the tower, but against it. Thus, the flanking tower of the church was completely demolished. Thus only two towers remained for the church, and this was to remain so until the middle of the 19th century: Researchers found out that the church of St. Martin up to this time had only the two towers, which were located in the east of the building , Of course, these were not the only changes or structural changes made to the church. There were many more of these conversions, including in relation to the main apses. For example, windows were installed in these. They should allow the passage of light through the church and thus make it beautiful and vivid in a certain way. A complete demolition in turn learned another building, namely the Magdalenenkapelle. This chapel was located between a side nave of the church of St. Martin and its apse, which lay in the southern direction.

The Secularization

Now they have learned quite a bit about the history of the Church of St. Martin, but this information should not remain: In the following section of this text you will learn a lot more about the, indeed very comprehensive but very interesting and informative history of this building in the city of Cologne: next is addressed viz. secularization , but also the restoration and reconstruction work, which was carried out in the 19th century, are not left out. So you can be curious, because there are some interesting information and facts! Have fun!

The country France was then known to be subject to a revolution. It was the same in 1792, but that's not all. The country was involved in a war with a big enemy. This opponent was not just a country, but a coalition. This coalition was made up of several different European governments and was therefore by no means to be underestimated. Among other things, Prussia and Austria were among the European governments. As one might suspect, the city of Cologne was one day affected by the then prevailing war. More specifically, it was the month of October in 1794. At that time, the war forces of the country of France took over the city. This time, in which France occupied the city of Cologne, lasted for twenty years .

Cologne was for a long time dominated by the traditions of the Middle Ages, but the fact that the city was now occupied or occupied by a "different culture" or rather by another country, of course, also changed its customs Time were influenced and influenced antiklerikal. Many other changes took place under the occupation of France, for example, the Cologne Cathedral , the landmark of the city, was converted into a normal parish church. But that should not be enough: even the archdiocese of Cologne was completely dissolved in 1801 and did not exist from this year on.

On June 9, 1802, a decree was passed that was to influence the history of Cologne for a long time: it was the admission of secularization. This was followed by the abolition of all spiritual bodies or corporations that were in the area of ​​the Rhine departments. Even the Martinskloster was such a facility and was therefore also affected by this secularization. The 21st of September 1802 is the date on which the monastery had to be dissolved. Up to this time around 21 monks lived and worked here. These had to find another accommodation outside the monastery walls, which some of them soon succeeded in: eleven of the monks were attentive to pastors within the city of Cologne. Soon they had taken over and found a new place for themselves.

Another church that was affected by the upheaval and the changes was the Church of St. Brigid. It was completely sold in 1805, except for a single tower. Researchers found a suitable protocol for the auctioning of national goods. This protocol came from the fourteenth year in which the French Revolution took place. In this scripture it was stated that the church no longer had any use because no holy service could be celebrated in it. Therefore, this building was also released for auction. As you might expect, the entire church was demolished after some time. The remains of this building, ie stones and the like were converted from 1812 to a staircase for an organ. To return now to the actual church, namely the Church of Great St. Martin: This had since assumed the function of a parish church. The role of the pastor was taken over by Felix Ohoven, a former abbot. A new function was also assigned to the abbey building, which had been vacant for some time: this building was supposed to serve as a space for living and living for some people.

These people were not humans, they were former monks. In 1808, however, they had to give up their monastic role in order to act as French veterans. These buildings and buildings fell more and more and became over the years more dilapidated. In 1821 they finally could not be used anymore and had to be evacuated. But that's not all: in 1822, just a year later, many of these buildings were demolished on behalf of the city. A building, which was preserved despite this until the year 1839, was the cloister. Some time later, he too was finally demolished and "made" "razed" . Victor Hugo had been a talented and well-known poet in those days. As a result, this man planned a trip that went along the entire Rhine and visited so for two whole days the city of Cologne. What he saw there were the last works on the demolition of the individual buildings that stood in Cologne. He wrote down his thoughts on the subject so that researchers could use them as a traditional source.

Unpleasant times

It was the time in the middle of the 19th century in which the church of St. Martin was not altogether beautiful because of its incompleteness and desolation. It was still missing some parts of the actual building. For example, two flanking turrets, which were usually attached to the west side of the church and proudly stretched out into the sky, were missing. The northern side of the church was also affected: the abbey building had been connected to this now very bare and unadorned side. But since this was missing, the walls seemed very bleak, because they did not even have windows that let some light flow into the building.

The year 1843 was to bring about a kind of upheaval, because from this point on, the city of Cologne agreed to contribute a few sums of money to the reconstruction of the church and thus accelerate the process of restoration and renovation so enormously. Already the first works blossomed new hope. Namely, a new sacristy was built on the northern apse of the building, whose shape and forms were strongly influenced by the Romanesque style. It was designed by a man named Johann Peter Weyer. The building, which seemed to be slowly recovering from its damage, was also pleased with the new and beautifully designed side-ship wall. In 1847, the next "puzzle piece" was added, which was the flanking tower, which was in northwestern direction. The plan to completely and completely renew or restore the basilica was also taken in 1861.

It is also worth noting that this plan is due to the extensive renovation or restoration Heinrich Nagelschmidt. It is pleasing that the city of Cologne once again took part in the cost of this complex, but in any case necessary, cost. This amounted to a value of about 32,000 thalers, which were then considered currency. Until the year 1875, the Church of Great St. Martin received further innovations and "additions". This is called a new church roof. But also on a renewed pediment, which in turn was in the west, was allowed to rejoice the building. But that was not all: even new windows, which were placed in the aisle, which was in the southern direction, and even the fourth and until that time still missing flanking door came to it. Besides all this new construction, the only thing that was shortened was the lobby of the building. As you may have noticed, these whole processes were works done on the exterior of the church. Now it was time for the interior of the building to be improved and redesigned: this task was taken over by a man named August Essenwein. He was the then director of the Germanisches Museum, which stood in Nuremberg.

Interesting to know about the whole thing is that this man rejected the plans put up to this point to make his own new plans. The old plans were a classicist painting, which was created at the end of the 18th century. Obviously, he did not like these very well and therefore developed his own plans, which revolved around historicism: he wanted to use the language of images, which was used in the Middle Ages. Of course, this should be done as authentically as possible, which is why soils and walls, even vaults were decorated and decorated. Unfortunately, this project could only be processed very slowly and in relatively small steps, because only the material costs were difficult to realize. That's what August Essenwein was aware of. Of course, he had set up a plan for the entire church, but he had thought one step further. Instead of designing images that were scattered all over the church, all in some way connected, he designed cycles of images, each found in a single, different part of the church. These cycles spoke for themselves and were thus independent of the other images that already existed, or which should come in the near future. Thus, it did not matter when the next pictures in the church found their place, and whether a break of the work had to be taken because there was a lack of materials or financial resources.
He started his work in the east and completed it in the west. When everything else was finished, the floor was finally decorated and decorated.

Stop

Now the article ends here for the first time. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed the many information and facts and that you have learned a lot. You have completed your training and can now Cologne score points and perhaps even specify a bit on your next visit to the wonderful city.

Because as you know, a holiday in Cologne or just a short trip is always worthwhile and can be recommended at any time of the year. Cologne has so much to offer and is such a beautiful destination . No matter if for big or small, for young or old. It is always worthwhile!

And in order to give you this great experience, we can offer you the suitable accommodation: the apartments in Cologn with a fair price-performance ratio. If you want to know more about St. Martin's Church, here's some good news. It's sure to be soon to continue with more exciting details and aspects !

PS We thank our daughter Dina for this great report! The Ferienwohnung-Koeln.com!