St. Gereon's Basilica, Cologne, Germany

St. Gereon's Basilica (Basilika Sankt Gereon) was first mentioned in 612. However, the building of the choir gallery, apse, and transepts occurred later, beginning under Archbishop Arnold II von Wied in 1151 and ending in 1227. It is one of twelve great churches in Cologne that were built in the Romanesque style.

St. Gereon has a highly irregular plan, the nave being covered by a decagonal oval dome, 21.0 m long and 16.9 m wide, completed in 1227 on the remains of Roman walls, which are still visible. It is the largest dome built in the West between the erection of the Hagia Sophia in the 6th century and the Duomo of Florence in the 15th century.

References:

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User Reviews

BARTOSZ R (5 months ago)
Amazing monumental and truly impressive dome. One can also see the oldest image of the city of Cologne. Beautiful church this one.

Daniela H. (15 months ago)
From outside looks astonishing, unfortunately was closed because of Fasching.

Jeremy (15 months ago)
Stunning site for its history and it's sense of sacredness.

Rachel Beran (16 months ago)
Beautiful-- a bit out of the way but worth it; in my opinion it's much nicer (and far less touristy) than the Cologne Cathedral

Ferdie Cam (2 years ago)
It's a beautiful parish church in a district in Cologne. The celebration of the Sunday mass commemorated the consecration of the church. It was held right in front of the church. Then, people festively ate homemade local delicacies and desserts, and greeted old and new faces. I met some of my fellow countrymen who are residing in Cologne and Leverkusen for the first time. There was a program where the brass band played after some of my countrymen presented 2 ethnographic dances with matching costumes.

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