"Kölner Dom, or the Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus was the highlight of our Viking Cruise visit to the Altstadt of Köln. We 've been to so many great cathedrals and churches over the years, Westminster Abbey, St Paul 's, Chartres, Notre Dame, St Patrick 's both in Dublin and NY, and now Kölner Dom And yet, they all have one thing in common... the belief by the people who built these great places of worship, that their completion would bring them closer to the God they so dearly loved. Such faith, such clear focus of belief in the almighty, that it consumed their every waking moment. The original site dates back to the Romans settlement, and was possibly a temple built by Mercurius Augustus. After that, it was used as some sort of Christian structure, including a square edifice known as the oldest cathedral that was commissioned by Maternus, the first bishop of Köln. The current Cathedral started to take shape around 1248, but it was stop and go for the next six hundred years. It wasn 't until a serious building project was funded in 1840 and finished in 1880 that the current Cathedral started to take shape. The repairs due to the WWII damage weren 't completed until 1956. Btw, if you still remember your pre Vatican II Latin service, the First Sunday of each month, the Mass is in Latin Many Catholics whose native language is not German visit Cologne Cathedral and celebrate Mass with us, especially on Sundays. In order to ensure that they can pray with us and not just silently in their own languages, the High Mass at 10 a.m. on the first Sunday in the month is, as a rule, celebrated partially in Latin. The parts in Latin are the well known texts that are used in every Mass. This means that all Mass goers whatever their native language can pray together. For us, we enjoyed our visit. We wandered. We prayed. We reflected. In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen!"
