St. Gereon

St. Gereon’s Basilica was right next to my hotel in Cologne, so I stopped inside a couple of times to check things out. It turns out, this is actually a pretty cool church.

St. Gereon, by the way, was a soldier who came to Cologne with the Theban Legion to fight for Rome in the 3rd Century. Unfortunately, he was then beheaded in Cologne for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods (come on, he’s a saint from the 3rd Century, you knew he was going to meet some gruesome demise).

The church is built on the site of St. G’s grave. Most of the current building was constructed between 1067 and 1227. So it’s an oldie, and definitely Romanesque-style.

Most noticeably, St. G’s has a decagonal-shaped nave (the nave is the part of the church where the congregation sits). This unusual shape gives a especially neat effect when you are standing in the middle of it and all of its stained glass.

Also, the dome of the nave is painted with golden raindrops (or maybe they’re supposed to God’s tears, you choose).

Early 16th Century sculpture of the Burial of Christ inside the west entrance of the church.

During WWII, about 95% of Cologne was destroyed by bombs. St. Gereon’s church, in this context, actually made out pretty well. It took a hit, but most of the nave stayed up.

This was St. Gereon's church after WWII

The Cologne cathedral was also hit by bombs (15 times), but it’s basic structure remained standing. All of the cathedral's stained glass was taken down and stored in a special concrete bunker in the church that was reportedly strong enough to keep the glass intact even if the steeple collapsed.

View of Köln Cathedral, March 1945

Archive Photo Credits: August Sander (St. Gereon's) and George Silk (Köln Cathedral).