The Relics of the Magi in Cologne and Milan

In some liturgical books of the Use of Cologne, Germany, today is noted in the calendar as “Obitus tertii regis – the death of the third king”, but it appears that this feast was never in general use within the archdiocese. (It is missing from many books altogether, especially the post-Tridentine editions, and in others is relegated to an appendix.) The kings to which this title refers are the three Magi, whose relics were taken from the basilica of St Eustorgio in Milan in 1162 by the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, after his conquest of the city. The relics were given to the imperial chancellor for Italy, Rainald von Dassel, who was also archbishop of Cologne, and installed in his see’s cathedral; to this day, Cologne still celebrates the feast of the translation of the relics on July 23rd. The impetus to build the city’s gigantic “new” cathedral (begun in 1248, but not completed until 1880, with a hiatus of over 280 years, from 1560-1842) came in no small part from the desire to build a space that could accommodate the large crowds of pilgrims who came to venerate these relics. (Images of and related to the Cologne reliquary from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Raimond Spekking

In 1190, von Dassel’s successor as archbishop, Philip von Heinsberg, commissioned a goldsmith from Verdun named Nicolas to make a new reliquary for the Magi. It was finished after 35 years of work, and is one of the largest medieval reliquaries that survives: more than 3’ 7” by 7’ 2” at the base, just over 5 feet tall, and weighing over 1100 pounds. The core is made of oak, covered over with gold, gilded copper and silver, and decorated with small golden statues, precious stones, gems, cameos and enamels. Over the centuries, it has been kept in various parts of the cathedral; since 1948, it has stood in a display case right behind the high altar.

by Arabsalam

The reliquary seen from the back, within the ambulatory of the apse.

by Joseacaraballo

The front has a plate which can be removed to expose a grill, behind which can be seen the skulls of the three kings. This is done every year on the Epiphany, and on special occasions.

by Elya

The lower part of the front is divided by highly decorated columns which form an arcade. In the middle sit the Virgin and Child, as the Magi approach from the left. Behind the Magi stands the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (1209-18), who donated three golden crowns for the three skulls in 1200. (These were stolen and melted down in 1803.) To the right is shown the Baptism of Christ, and above, Christ in majesty flanked by two angels. Above Him are the archangels Gabriel and Raphael in round medallions; St Michael was replaced by a jewel. (Obviously, the glass case in which the reliquary is kept for security purposes makes for less than optimal photography. The next four images are all by Velopilger, CC0 1.0.)

On the back are shown on the left the Flagellation of Christ, and on the right, the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John. The prophet between them is labelled as Jeremiah, but the text on his scroll is from Isaiah. Above the prophet is a portrait of Rainald von Dassel, and in the upper section, the personification of the virtue of Patience, flanked by the Milanese martyrs Felix and Nabor, whose putative relics were also brought to Cologne, and formerly kept in this reliquary.

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A 12th Century Tabernacle from Cologne

This post is kind of a follow-up on the series which we concluded yesterday on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany. I say “kind of” because it is generally believed that this magnificent tabernacle comes from the basilica of St Pantaleon in Cologne, but this is not completely certain. (All images from Wikimedia Commons: 1, 3, 4, 7 and 11-13 by Fæ, CC BY 2.0; 2, 5, 6, 8-10 and 14 by Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5)

The tabernacle was made ca. 1180, and consists of a core of oak, covered over with gilt copper and enamel, and decorated with 32 pieces of carved ivory, both elephant and walrus. (Some of these ivories are modern restorations, as are the knot on top of the dome, and two of the griffins on which it rests.) It stands at about 1’, 9½” tall, roughly 1’, 8½” square at the base, and weighs 58 pounds. It was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1861, and has been there ever since. (See this link for more detailed information.) Beneath the dome, Christ sits with eleven of the Apostles; the sixteen standing figures on the lower part are prophets, while each side has a “door” with an ivory plaque of an event in the life of Christ. The first two of these are modern (i.e. 19th century) copies made from a reliquary in a museum in Berlin which is contemporary to this piece. On this side is the Christ Child with the Virgin Mary and St Joseph.

The Journey of the Magi.

The Crucifixion (original to this object).

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The Basilica of St Pantaleon in Cologne

We finally conclude this series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the church of St Pantaleon, which I have saved for last in order to end on an artistic high note, namely, its very beautiful and well-preserved rood screen. (All images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.)

by Hawabo, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE 

A church is mentioned on the site in a document dated to the year 866, but the current building was founded as a Benedictine monastery by St Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, the younger brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great, in 955; the central nave dates to this period.

© Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0

This is the oldest church anywhere in the west of Europe dedicated to Pantaleon, a Christian doctor martyred in the first years of the fourth century, during the persecution of Diocletian, at Nicomedia, a town about 65 miles to the east of Constantinople. St Bruno’s successor-but-one as archbishop, Gero, obtained his relics while on embassy to Byzantium in 971, during which he negotiated the marriage of Emperor Otto II with Theophanu, a niece of the Eastern Roman emperor John I Tzimiskes (969-76). When her husband died, Theophanu became regent of her son Otto III. She often visited Cologne, and the church’s westwork was built ca. 980 at her behest; in accordance with her own request, she was buried here when she died in 991. (Her modern sarcophagus is in the narthex of the westwork.)

by Beckstet

© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (cropped)

Around 1160, the single-nave Ottonian church was expanded into its current form as a three-nave basilica. The late Gothic rood screen, which is by far the church’s most interesting feature today, was built at the beginning of the 16th century.

© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0

by Ljuba brank, CC BY-SA 4.0

The high altar behind the rood screen.

© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

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The 11th Century Doors of Sankta Maria im Kapitol in Cologne, Germany

Since we have three Marian feasts this week, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Loreto (today), and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Thursday), it’s a good time to finish up part of our ongoing series on the Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the last major feature of Sankta Maria im Kapitol, the city’s principal Marian church. (See parts one and two of this same church from last month.) This is a wooden door which dates to the time of the building’s first construction, ca. 1060, and which has survived the vicissitudes of its history in an astonishingly good condition, even preserving some of the original paint. It was first mounted into the north apse as an external door, facing the city, but has been moved more than once since then, and now stands at the back of the south aisle, with a gate in front of it for preservation purposes.

This makes for less-than-ideal photography, so the images available on Wikimedia Commons do not give us a complete overview of the iconographic program. The doors measure roughly 15’ 11” by 8’ 1½”; the narrative panels are framed by elaborate wooden tracery which is fitted around them to create the illusion that the doors are carved as a single piece. The figures are in unusually high relief, some of them even sticking out of their frames, although this makes them far more likely to get broken over time, and there are a number of figures missing wholly or in part. The iconographic program includes all the major events of the life of Christ, on the left side, from the Annunciation to His Baptism, and on the right, from Palm Sunday to Pentecost. Four scenes of the Temptation of Christ originally ran across the bottom of both panels; these are the most badly damaged.

On the left: the Annunciation and Visitation in the top panel, the appearance of the Angels to the shepherds and the birth of Christ in the second row. On the right: the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem at the top, and the healing of the blind Man and the raising of Lazarus in the second row. (These last two follow the order of the liturgical readings of the fourth week of Lent, on Wednesday and Friday respectively.)

On the left: at top, the Magi before Herod, and their adoration of the Christ Child; below that, the Angel appears to Joseph in a dream, and the flight into Egypt: third row, the messengers speak to Herod, and Herod makes inquiry of the scribes.

In the upper band in this image, Herod sending out his soldiers, and the Massacre of the Innocents, and in lower, the Baptism of Christ.

This was the clearest picture available of the lowest panels on both sides, which depicted the Temptation of Christ in four scenes, now very damaged.

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The Basilica of Saint Andrew in Cologne

For the feast of St Andrew the Apostle, we continue our ongoing series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of the city of Cologne, Germany, with the one dedicated to him. We have already seen part of the church earlier this month, on the feast of St Albert the Great, since he is buried in the crypt. It also houses relics of the Maccabee brothers in a very beautiful reliquary shrine, shown below. (All images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

The church was founded as a secular canonry in 974, but significantly expanded and rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries; the westwork, nave and central tower date from this period. Cologne was where the Dominicans established their very first house in Germany, only a very short time after St Dominic’s death, welcomed by the canons of this church. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Dominicans’ were suppressed in Germany, and their church and monastery in Cologne were both destroyed; they returned to the city in 1947, and have had charge of St Andrew’s church ever since then.

by Johan Bakker

by Edgar El, CC BY-SA 3.0

C. Raimond Spekking

In the 15th century, the original choir was destroyed, and rebuilt in the Gothic style (lower right in the this photo), followed by the north transept in 1470/80 (on the right), and the south transept by 1492.

by Островский Александр, Киев, CC BY-SA 3.0

There are not a lot of good photos of the building available, but one can see a very good panorama of the interior on Google maps. Here we see the nave from the second bay (moving forward), roughly the point at which the architecture transitions from Romanesque to Gothic. I suspect that the Crucifix and statues of Our Lady and St John mounted on the arch were originally part of a rood screen, which would have been positioned right below where they are now.

C. Raimond Spekking

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The Basilica of Sankta Maria ‘im Kapitol’ in Cologne (Part 2)

Continuing our series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, this is the second article on the city’s principal church of the Virgin Mary, Sankta Maria ‘im Kapitol’. The first post was published last week, and covered the architectural structure, so this one will show the church’s most notable artistic works, with one exception, which I am leaving until Advent, a wooden door made at the time of its original construction, ca. 1060 AD. (Images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

A stained-glass window in the north wall, with St James the Apostle on the left, and then hometown heroes Ss Ursula (middle) and Gereon, both of whom have churches of their own in the city. Dated after 1510.

by MenkinAlRire

The Crucifixion, with St Hubert, the Virgin Mary, Ss John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalen (at the foot of the Cross), St Jerome (right), and the donors in the lower section, William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg (1475-1511) on the left, and his wife Sibilla of Brandenburg and their daughter Mary. Made after 1510.

by Armin Kleiner

Another of St James the Apostle, 16th century

by Michael Wittwer

A 16 century carving of the burial of Christ in painted sandstone.

by Hans Peter Schaefer, CC BY-SA 3.0

An old Romanesque stylophore, i.e. a base designed to hold up a column, very often part of an external porch. Lions were popular for these all over Europe, and before the 12th century, often look like large grinning cats, since they were extinct in Europe, and most of the artists had never seen one.  

by HOWI, CC BY 3.0

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The Basilica of St Cecilia in Cologne

Since today is the feast of St Cecilia, we continue our series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the one dedicated to her. This post will be much briefer than any of the others, and is really only being done at all for the sake of the completeness of the series; German Wikipedia says that Mass is now celebrated here only on Christmas and the patronal feast day. (All images from Wikimedia Commons., CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

The interior of the church in 1911

It was founded as the church of a women’s monastic house in the late 9th century, and prominent enough within the city that it served as the station church for the dawn Mass of Christmas. The current building dates to the twelfth century; in 1474, it passed to a community of Augustinian canonesses, but all of the conventual buildings were destroyed after the dissolution of the religious houses in the early 19th century. For a time, it served as the church of a hospital, but after it was severely damaged in the Second World War, it became the home of part of a museum dedicated to religious art. In its current form, it has neither tower nor transepts; there are some bare remains of fresco in the nave and choir, but they are sadly in very poor condition.

by Chris 06

by Hans Peter Schaefer, CC BY-SA 3.0

by Островский Александр, Киев, CC BY-SA 3.0

by Raimond Spekking

by Daderot (image released to public domain)

by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 3.0

by Daderot (image released to public domain)

The Basilica of Sankta Maria ‘im Kapitol’ in Cologne (Part 1)

For the feast of Our Lady’s Presentation, we continue our series on the twelve great Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the largest one of them, which is dedicated to Her. It is nicknamed ‘im Kapitol – in the Capitol’, to distinguish it from the smallest, ‘in Lyskirchen’, which is also Hers. This title refers to a large Roman temple which was built on the site in the first century AD, when Cologne became a Roman colony. (Its name derives from the Latin word “colonia”.) This temple was dedicated to the Capitoline triad, the gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva; the nave of the church stands on its original foundations. (All images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

A 13th century wooden sculpture of the Virgin and Child, which stands at the front of the rood screen, known as “the Limburg Madonna.” (by Triptychon)

Even though Sankta Maria im Kapitol was terribly damaged during World War II (as were all of the churches of Cologne), it nevertheless preserves enough artistic treasures and objects of interest that they merit a separate post. This article will therefore cover just the architectural structure, and some of its major features. (One of the twelve churches is dedicated to St Cecilia, whose feast is tomorrow, so we will cover that one first, and then come back here next week.) The church also has a wooden door made at the time of its original construction, ca. 1060, which is in an astonishingly good state of conservation, even retaining some of its original paint, despite the fact that it was not brought inside for preservation until the 1930s. (It is now installed at the end of the south aisle.) The two parts have 26 panels with scenes from the life of Christ, the Nativity cycle on the left, and the Passion and Resurrection cycle on the right. This object is rare and beautiful enough to merit its own article, which I will post during Advent.

by Imme Fischer, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sankta Maria im Kapitol is traditionally said to have been originally founded by a Frankish noblewoman named Plectrude (died 718), the wife of Pepin of Herstal, during their long residence in Cologne. (After World War II, her sarcophagus was found in the middle of the bombed-out church). The construction of the current building began in the 11th century, following the plan of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, with three apses of equal size grouped around the crossing. It then became the custom for the archbishop of Cologne to celebrate the first Mass of Christmas here.

In 1170, the westwork was expanded with three large towers, modelled on those of the nearby abbey of Brauweiler, but the central one collapsed in 1637, and the other two are not much higher than the façade. Thus, although Sankta Maria im Kapitol is the largest of the twelve basilicas in terms of its footprint on the ground, it is not as visually impressive as the others on the outside.

by Michael Wittwer

The square chapels between the apses were added in the second half of the 15th century.

by Cmcmcm1

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The Tomb of St Albert in Cologne

One of the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, is dedicated to the Apostle St Andrew, and I will add this church to the ongoing series which I have been doing about them on his feast day, which is two weeks from tomorrow. Today I am doing just the crypt, since it contains the tomb of St Albert the Great, whose feast it is.

St Albert Preaching, by the German painter Friedrich Walter (1440-93) 

Cologne was the very first city where the Dominicans established a presence in Germany, not long after St Dominic’s death in August of 1221, and they were first received there by the secular canons who had charge of the basilica of St Andrew. In 1248, St Albert was sent to this house by a general chapter of the order to establish a “studium generale”, which under his leadership became one of the Dominicans’ chief centers of learning in all fields. Albert’s remarkable career, including a brief stint (1260-62) as bishop of Regensburg, took him to a great many places in Germany, France and Italy, but he spent much of his time at Cologne, and died there in the Dominican house in 1280, at the age of about 80.

This chasuble, which now is kept in the sacristy of the church of St Andrew in Cologne, was found in the tomb of St Albert on one of the occasions when it was opened, and was still used until fairly recently. Our thanks to Fr Innocent Smith OP for sharing this photo with us. 

In 1802, when the left bank of the Rhine was under the rule of France and God’s enemy Napoleon, Cologne suffered the effects of the “secularization”, as it is called, by which religious orders were suppressed, and their property stolen by the government. The Dominicans’ church was first confiscated and used as a military barracks, then later destroyed. St Albert was therefore moved across the street to the crypt of the church of St Andrew, and his remains placed in an unfinished Roman sarcophagus of the 3rd century, where they remain to this day. Well has it been said that the wheels of God’s justice grind slowly, but to powder, for the powers of this world that once expelled the Dominicans from Cologne are no more. The friars, on the other hand, returned to the city in 1947, and were given custody of the church of St Andrew, and of their brother and teacher St Albert. (The following images are from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; first by Raimond Spekking, the rest by © 1971markus.)

An inscription in the crypt: “Here lies Saint Albert the Great, doctor of the Church, born ca. 1200 AD in Lauingen (in the southern German region of Swabia); entered the Order of Preacher in 1223; Professor of Theology at Paris and Cologne, 1248; bishop of Regensburg, 1260-62; on November 15, 1280, he passed to heaven; on December 16, 1931, he was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Rejoice, o happy and holy Cologne, who alone above all others hast merited to possess the splendor and glory of all Germany.”

Another which commemorates the visit of Pope St John Paul II to Cologne in 1980, for the 700th anniversary of St Albert’s death.