St. Gereon's Basilica (''Basilika Sankt Gereon'') is a German

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, dedicated to

Saint Gereon Saint Gereon of Cologne (french: Géréon), who may have been a soldier, was martyred at Cologne by beheading, probably in the early 4th century. History According to the Roman Martyrology, "In Cologne in Germany, the Saints Gereon and his comp ...

, and designated a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

on 25 June 1920. The first mention of a church at the site, dedicated to St. Gereon, appears in 612. However, the building of the current choir gallery,

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

, and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

s occurred later, beginning under Archbishop

Arnold II von Wied Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Uni ...

in 1151 and ending in 1227. It is one of twelve great churches in Cologne that were built in the

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...

. St. Gereon has a highly irregular plan, the nave being covered by a

decagon In geometry, a decagon (from the Greek δέκα ''déka'' and γωνία ''gonía,'' "ten angles") is a ten-sided polygon or 10-gon.. The total sum of the interior angles of a simple decagon is 1440°. A self-intersecting ''regular decagon'' i ...

al oval dome, 21.0 m long and 16.9 m wide, completed in 1227 on the remains of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

walls, which are still visible. It is the largest

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

built in the West between the erection of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

in the 6th century and the

Duomo of Florence Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally ...

in the 15th century.

Ernst Seifert Ernst Seifert (9 May 1855 – 27 April 1928) was a German organ builder and founder of a company named after him. In 1885 he founded his company in Cologne-Mannsfeld.Karl-Heinz Göttert, Eckhard Isenberg, ''Orgeln in Köln: ein Rundgang zu 70 ...

built an

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

there in 1898. In the 20th century, the architect Andreas Dilthey worked on its interior. Archaeological excavation has revealed the presence of an earlier structure from the fourth century, possibly a

funerary building A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect ...

that was converted into a church by the

sixth century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the previous c ...

. This original church was perhaps called the church of the Golden Saints (''ad sanctos aureos'') by

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

.Gregory of Tours, ''Liber in gloria martyrum'', 61.

References

External links

www.stgereon.de
*

4th-century churches Churches completed in 1227 Cologne, St Gereon Innenstadt, Cologne Basilica churches in Germany Roman Catholic churches in Cologne Church buildings with domes {{NorthRhineWestphalia-struct-stub

See also

References

External links