Cologne Cathedral in the context of "Cologne"

Christianity is the largest religion in Germany. It was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD, while parts of that area belonged to the Roman Empire, and later, when Franks and other Germanic tribes converted to Christianity from the fifth century onwards. The area became fully Christianized by the time of Charlemagne in the eighth and ninth century. After the Reformation started by Martin Luther in the early 16th century, many people left the Catholic Church and became Protestant, mainly Lutheran and Reformed. In the 17th and 18th centuries, German cities also became hubs of heretical and sometimes anti-religious freethinking, challenging the influence of religion and contributing to the spread of secular thinking about morality across Germany and Europe.

The Electorate of Cologne (German: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (German: Kurköln), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift—the temporal possessions—of the archbishop of Cologne, and was ruled by him in his capacity as prince-elector. There were only two other ecclesiastical prince-electors in the Empire: the Electorate of Mainz and the Electorate of Trier. The archbishop-elector of Cologne was also arch-chancellor of Italy (one of the three component titular kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, the other two being Germany and Burgundy) and, as such, ranked second among all ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Empire, after the archbishop-elector of Mainz, and before that of Trier.

The capital of the electorate was Cologne. Conflicts with the citizens of Cologne caused the elector to move to Bonn. The Free Imperial City of Cologne was recognized after 1475, thus removing it from even the nominal secular authority of the elector. Cologne and Bonn were occupied by France in 1794. The right bank territories of the electorate were secularized in 1803 during the German mediatization.

Cathedrals, collegiate churches, and monastic churches like those of abbeys and priories, often have certain complex structural forms that are found less often in parish churches. They also tend to display a higher level of contemporary architectural style and the work of accomplished craftsmen, and occupy a status both ecclesiastical and social that an ordinary parish church rarely has. Such churches are generally among the finest buildings locally and a source of regional pride. Many are among the world's most renowned works of architecture. These include St Peter's Basilica, Notre-Dame de Paris, Cologne Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Antwerp Cathedral, Prague Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilica of San Vitale, St Mark's Basilica, Westminster Abbey, Saint Basil's Cathedral, Antoni Gaudí's incomplete Sagrada Família and the ancient cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, now a mosque.

The earliest large churches date from Late Antiquity. As Christianity and the construction of churches spread across the world, their manner of building was dependent upon local materials and local techniques. Different styles of architecture developed and their fashion spread, carried by the establishment of monastic orders, by the posting of bishops from one region to another and by the travelling of master stonemasons who served as architects. The successive styles of the great church buildings of Europe are known as Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, and various Revival styles of the late 18th to early 20th centuries, and then Modern. Underlying each of the academic styles are the regional characteristics. Some of these characteristics are so typical of a particular country or region that they appear, regardless of style, in the architecture of churches designed many centuries apart.

Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk (Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) is a Roman Catholic church in Ostend, Belgium. The neo-Gothic building was constructed on the ashes of a previous church that occupied the site. King Leopold II enthusiastically supported a plan to build a new and more magnificent church. Construction started in 1899 and was completed and consecrated by Bishop Waffelaert on 31 August 1908. Its stained glass windows were destroyed during the two World Wars and were replaced by Michiel Martens. The church is 70 metres (230 ft) long and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. Its spires are 72 metres (236 ft) high.

The church was built in the neo-Gothic style according to plans by the architect Louis Delacenserie, who based his design on the Gothic Cologne Cathedral and the neo-Gothic Votivkirche in Vienna.

The history of Cologne covers over 2000 years of urban history. In the year 50, Cologne was elevated to a city under Roman law and named "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium"; since the Frankish rule it is known by derivatives of simply Colonia, including German Cöln (later Köln) and French (borrowed into English) Cologne. The city became an influential merchant stronghold in the early Middle Ages due to its location on the Rhine, which allowed the most seasoned Cologne wholesalers to control the flow of goods from northern Italy to England. The archbishops promoted the perception of "Holy Cologne" when they developed the city to the capital of their Electorate of Cologne; to this end, they had both the semicircular city wall and the Gothic Cologne Cathedral built as a demonstration of power.In the 15th century, Cologne was able to shake off archiepiscopal rule and, as a Free Imperial City, enabled the burgher ruling class to achieve great splendor, visibly documented by the Cologne School of Painting. After the Thirty Years' War, however, the city's development stalled. Only after French occupation when in 1815, Cologne was incorporated into Prussia, the city experienced a steady upswing borne by industrialization. In 1880, the cathedral was completed as a national monument of German imperial unity providing the city with its well-known landmark. Extensive devastation in the Second World War was followed by decades of reconstruction, which only slowly restored Cologne to its emblematic urban panorama on the Rhine through the efforts of urban repair. Today with more than one million inhabitants, Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany. It is primarily marketed as an event city, with Cologne Carnival being perceived as the biggest tourist attraction.

This list of tallest church buildings ranks church buildings by height. From the Middle Ages until the advent of the skyscraper, Christian church buildings were often the world's tallest buildings. From 1311, when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral surpassed the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza, until the Washington Monument was completed in 1884, a succession of church buildings held this title.

• The tallest church building in the world is the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, which surpassed Ulm Minster (161.53 m) on 30 October 2025 when its central tower reached 162.91 m. The tower is intended to reach 172 m when completed, expected in 2026.
• The tallest church building in the world until 2025 was the Ulm Minster (161.53 m), the main Lutheran congregation in Ulm, Germany.
• The tallest domed church building, and the tallest Catholic church until surpassed by Sagrada Família, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (158 m) in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
• The tallest cathedral as well as the tallest church building with two steeples is Cologne Cathedral (157.22 m) in Cologne, Germany.
• The tallest domed cathedral as well as the tallest Eastern Orthodox is People's Salvation Cathedral (132 m) in Bucharest, Romania.
• The tallest brickwork church building is St Martin's Church (130.6 m) in Landshut, Germany.
• The tallest brickwork church building with two steeples is St Mary's Church (125 m) in Lübeck, Germany.
• The tallest wooden church building is Săpânța-Peri Monastery church (78 m) in Săpânța, Romania.
• The tallest church building in the Americas is the Cathedral of Maringá (124 m) in Maringá, Brazil.

The cities with the most churches surpassing 99 metres (325 feet) are Hamburg (5 of the 29 tallest churches, with 5 towers overall), Lübeck (4 of the 56 tallest churches, two of which with twin towers → 6 towers overall), Vienna (2), Tallinn (2), St. Petersburg (2), New York City (2), Dortmund (2) and Stralsund (2).

 The Shrine of the Three Kings (German Dreikönigsschrein or Der Dreikönigenschrein), Tomb of the Three Kings, or Tomb of the Three Magi is a reliquary traditionally believed to contain the bones of the Biblical Magi, also known as the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men. This shrine is a large gilded and decorated triple sarcophagus situated above and behind the high altar of Cologne Cathedral in western Germany. Built approximately from 1180 to 1225, it is considered the high point of Mosan art by various historians and scholars, and ranks amongst the largest reliquary in the Western world.

The shrine has gone through periods of damage and restoration during the 16th century. Although the shrine has always been on display, it was not until the 19th century when the relics were unveiled to the public. The relics of the three kings were first exhibited to public display in the 12th century.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designates World Heritage Sites of outstanding universal value to cultural or natural heritage which have been nominated by countries signatories to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage. As Germany was divided following World War II, West and East Germany ratified the convention separately, the former on 23 August 1976 and the latter on 12 December 1988. With German reunification, East Germany was dissolved on 3 October 1990.

Germany has 55 sites on the list, with a further seven on the tentative list. The first site listed was the Aachen Cathedral in 1978. The most recent addition took place in 2025. Three sites are natural and 52 are listed for their cultural significance. Germany holds the third-highest number of World Heritage Sites in the world, after Italy and China with 61 and 60 sites, respectively, and the second most in terms of cultural significance. The Dresden Elbe Valley, which was listed as endangered in July 2006, was eventually delisted in June 2009, making it one of the only three sites in the world to have been removed from the World Heritage Site register. Cologne Cathedral was listed as endangered from 2006 to 2008 due to plans to construct high-rise buildings nearby that would threaten the integrity of the property. Nine sites are shared with other countries.