Describing one of the most visited landmarks







In the country

I went to Germany last year. I was greatly impressed by the variety of historical places in the country. The place I would like to tell you about is Cologne Cathedral in Kölner Dom.

Cologne Cathedral is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Germany with six million visitors from all over the world coming through its doors every year It has been listed as a World Heritage Site and it is colossal. The towers on the west side are 157 metres high. It is the second tallest church in Germany and the third tallest in the world Cologne Cathedral took over 632 years to build and the costs, by today's standards, would run into billions of euros. It is so big its seating capacity can be up to 20,000 people.

But why did they decide to build such a huge cathedral in Cologne? Well, the church, which was there before was much smaller. In 1146, however, the relics of the three Wise Men - also known as the Three Magi - were brought to Cologne and a golden shrine was built to hold their bones. The church became an important centre for Catholics from all over the Europe and because of this a much bigger, grander cathedral was built.

Cologne Cathedral has remained intact through many disasters. During World War I!, the city of Cologne was heavily bombed and most of the city was badly damaged. The cathedral, however, survived the bombings with very little damage done to it.

I felt so impressed with the magnificent look of this Gothic church with its spires and the largest facade of any church in the world.