Cologne Cathedral, Germany

Cologne Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, and of the administration, of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism, and Gothic architecture, and was declared a World Heritage Site, in 1996. It is Germany's, most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day. At 157 meters, the cathedral is the tallest, twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe, after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church, in the world. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe, and has the second-tallest spires. The towers for its two huge spires, give the cathedral, the largest façade of any church, in the world.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral, began in 1248, but was halted, in the years around 1560. Attempts to complete the construction, began around 1814, but the project was not properly funded, until the 1840s. The edifice, was completed to its original Medieval plan, in 1880.

Cologne's medieval builders, had planned a grand structure, to house the reliquary of the Three Kings, and fit its role as a place of worship, for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete, during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became, unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value", and "a powerful testimony, to the strength and persistence of Christian belief, in medieval and modern Europe". Only the telecommunications tower, is higher than the cathedral.