August 14 – Anniversary of the Start AND Finish of a Very Long, Very Tall Construction Project

nPostednon August 14, 2014

nI’vennever been to Cologne, Germany, but I’ve long noticed that it’s onenof those towns whose name in English, Cologne, looks NOTHING likenit’s name in German: Köln.nI mean, can’t the same first initial be the same, at least???

n Colognenis known for having one of Europe’s oldest and largest universitiesnand for its cathedral, which is considered a World Heritage Site, andnwhich is (amazingly) Germany’s most visited landmark, attracting annaverage of 20 THOUSAND people every DAY!

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nItnis the cathedral that concerns us today.
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nOnnthis date in 1248, construction began on the cathedral. It took morenthan 600 years to finish—but don’t picture peasants toiling away onnthe construction project for all those centuries! Actually,nconstruction on the cathedral halted in 1473 (after more than 200nyears of building!), even though it was still unfinished. It wasn’tnuntil 1842 that people began construction again, following thenoriginal plan. The completion was celebrated by the German nation onnthis date in 1880, exactly 632 years – to the day – afternconstruction began!
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Bynthe way, it is amazing to read that the city of Cologne was almostnentirely flattened by Allied bombing during World War II. The citynlost 95% of its population! The cathedral itself took 14 hits bynbombs but remained standing. In 1944 an emergency repair was madenwith bad-quality bricks taken from a building that had beennflattened—and although the rest of the cathedral was fixed,npost-war, in a more appealing way, the quick-fix brick repair wasnleft to be a reminder of the war. That is, until 2005, when it wasndecided to reconstruct that section to its original appearance.

Evennthough the post-war repairs were completed in 1956, there is stillnsome scaffolding erected and repairs being done—always—somewherenon the building. But that is common in Europe. When the mostntreasured buildings are more than half a millennium old, there’sngoing to be some scaffolding! Wind and rain and pollution eat away atnmountains, and they eat away at cathedrals and monuments as well…

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nInthought it was interesting that, after it took centuries to finishnthe church, once it was completed it was awarded the title thenTallest Building in the World. However, it only kept the title fornfour years! In 1884, when the Washington Monument was finished in thenU.S., it became the tallest building in the world (for a while!).

nAlsonon this date:

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