Stained Glass Windows in the Cathedral in Cologne

I have been telling you about my adventure in Cologne, Germany and have been sharing a lot of pictures of the Cathedral.  I mean A Lot! Well, if you ever get a chance to visit,  you will have a better understanding of why I took so many pictures.  There is a reason it is a World Heritage Site!  It has been part of the city of Cologne for almost 800 years.  Construction began in 1248 and wasn’t really finished until 1880.  And if you factor in the reconstruction that is still taking place, you could say it’s been under some type of construction for most of those 800 years.  And today I want to share some of the pictures that I took of the beautiful stained glass windows from inside this Gothic Masterpiece.

Now, remember, it was Easter Sunday when we visited.  We had to wait for the Easter Mass to be concluded before we could enter to tour. And, there were not any guided tours inside that day due to the Holiday.  So, I relied on this site to help me with the names of these works of art.  For example, the window above is called the Johannes Klein Window and dates to 1884.  You see, some windows are early and some were added later as the construction came to an end.  Also, many were damaged during World War II, so some are still undergoing reconstruction.  In the case of this window, the image shown on the church website differs slightly and stated that they hoped to have reconstruction complete by 2010.  Well, I believe when we visited in 2014 that had been accomplished.

This window is the Window of St. Peter and the Tree of Jesse.  It dates to 1509.  You can definitely tell a difference in the style and color.  St. Peter is the patron Saint of the Cathedral and the Tree of Jesse shows Christ’s royal ancestry.

This is the Window of the Nativity and it dates to 1507.  It shows Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus being visited by the Angels and Shepherds.  It also shows Moses and the Burning Bush.

Here is the Window of the Three Holy Magi.  This window is from 1507/1508.  It shows the Adoration of the Three Kings along with a scene with the Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon.

This is the Window of the Coronation of the Virgin from 1509.  The Holy Spirit and a Dove can be seen above Mary.

This is the Window of St. Paul, originally from 1864. It was totally destroyed during World War II and was reconstructed during 1992 to 1994.  Notice how brilliant the color is on this compared to some of the older windows.

This is the Window of St. Peter, from 1876.  The piece was made in Munich and shows St. Peter as the first head of the Church.

Here is the Window of St. Stephen, a martyred Saint, dating to 1848.  This is one of the Bavarian windows.

This is the Window of the Pentecost also from 1848.  It shows the descent of the Holy Spirit which is considered the founding day of the Church.

Here is the Window of Lamentation. It is from 1847 and shows the corpse of Christ over His Mother’s knees.  It also has the Last Supper depicted above this scene.

This window, the Adoration of the Magi, is another window that pays tribute to the Three Kings.  It is from 1846 and shows the Adoration of the Magi and the Shepherds and the Annunciation.  This window was installed as part of the 600 year anniversary of working on the Cathedral.

This is the St. John the Baptist Window from 1847 and is the first of the Bavarian Windows.  The Bavarian Windows relate the story of Redemption.

This is the last Window that I will be sharing with you and it is called the Life of Christ.  It originally was from 1884 and was reconstructed in 2005.  All but two panels of this window were destroyed during World War II.  I love how I caught light reflecting through the panes on the wall in this image.  I wish I could have taken more, because this is not even half of the beautiful windows in the Cathedral.  It was crowded and there was so much to see that day.

Source

And the Cathedral also houses the Shrine of the Magi.  Every large Church in the Middle Ages was built to house a Holy Relic and for the Cathedral in Cologne, the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings was brought form Milan to be housed here.  And today, the Shrine is the main focus of the Cathedral.  There are many other interesting and historical relics in the Church, so if you have time and a tour is available, I highly recommend it.  I am very thankful that we made it back during our free time to tour on our own.  And our guide did an excellent job of telling us what to expect when we came back and what to look for so that we didn’t miss a thing.

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This is not a sponsored post.  
This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. 

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