Cologne Cathedral

Church in Cologne

Follow Cologne Cathedral on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!

We include updates on Shrine of the Three Kings, Rainer Woelki, Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, Josef Frings, Clemens August of Bavaria, Konrad von Hochstaden, Hermann of Wied, Taubenbrunnen, Kölner Domchor, Felix von Hartmann, Anno II, Bruno the Great, Joachim Meisner, Rainald of Dassel, Clemens August Droste zu Vischering, Engelbert II of Berg ... and more.

April 3 2025
Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece
The Cologne Cathedral announced that artist Andrea Büttner would create a mural depicting the Torah ark's stone base, which was the original support for the Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece. Büttner won the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition with this piece aimed at highlighting Jewish history.
April 3 2025 The cathedral chapter announced Andrea Büttner as the winner of the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition. Her proposed mural will feature a life-size realistic painting of a Torah ark stone base from a previous Cologne synagogue, to be placed in the Chapel of St. Mary.
August 2023 The cathedral launched the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition, calling for a new permanent artwork to acknowledge the history of Jewish-Christian relations.
March 2 2022 Offered his resignation to the pope for a second time.
September 2021 Met with Pope Francis and requested a six-month leave for spiritual reflection, which was granted.
May 2021 A remote-controlled drone began a comprehensive photographic survey of the cathedral, taking 200,000 high-resolution photos to create a detailed 50 GB 3D digital model with 25 billion polygons.
March 23 2021 Refused to resign following the release of a sexual abuse report, stating that resignation would be a 'short-lived symbol'.
2017
Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral
The cathedral chapter and Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation create a working group titled 'The Cathedral and the Jews' to address historical antisemitic elements.
October 2016 Appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for a five-year term.
January 5 2015 The cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a PEGIDA demonstration.
September 20 2014 Officially installed as Archbishop of Cologne.
July 11 2014 Announced as the successor to Joachim Meisner as archbishop of Cologne after a complex ecclesiastical and civil review process.
January 6 2012 The Vatican announced Woelki would be created a cardinal on 18 February, becoming the youngest member of the College of Cardinals at the time.
August 27 2011 Woelki was officially installed as archbishop of Berlin and took formal possession of his see.
July 2 2011 Pope Benedict XVI ratified Woelki's election and appointed him Archbishop of Berlin, just two days after the death of Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Rainer Woelki, Cologne Cathedral Seal, Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece (Lochner), Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral & Cologne Cathedral, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

See Also