On the 14th of August, 1880, the last stone of the great Domkirche of Cologne, the foundations of which were laid more than six hundred years ago, was put in its place, and the grandest conception of the Middle-Age Gothic Cathedral builders stands at length complete in all its parts.

This stupendous structure is the largest, and architecturally the purest of the German-Gothic churches. It is believed to have been begun about the middle of the thirteenth century. It stands on the site of an older church, built in the ninth century and destroyed by fire in 1248. The architect is unknown, though the original design has been attributed to Gerhard von Rile. The work on it was carried forward with more or less rapidity up to the time of the Reformation, when it was entirely suspended until about fifty years ago. The choir, the first part completed, was consecrated in 1322. In 1509 the north and south aisles of the nave had only been carried up to the capitals of the columns. A wooden roof was then thrown over them, and in this state the building remained, with only enough repairing to keep it from going to ruin, until the early part of the present century.

Much of the indifference of the German people with respect to the completion of their noblest cathedral was doubtless owing to the fact that the original designs had been lost, and it seemed impossible to surmount the difficulties of structure presented by the two colossal towers with slender open-work spires which were to be the crowning glory of the edifice. But this obstacle was removed by the happy discovery of the design of the main building at Darmstadt in 1818, and subsequently of that of the two towers. This discovery aroused new interest in the great cathedral. The repair of the building was commenced in 1830. Large sums were appropriated by the Government to carry on the work, and money was also raised for the purpose by private subscription, and by an association called the Dombauverein, with branches throughout Europe. The amount required to complete the building was estimated by Zwirner, the architect employed to supervise it, at between four and five million dollars. In 1842 the foundation stone of the transept was laid by the King of Prussia. Six years later the nave, aisles, and transept were consecrated, and in 1863 the whole interior was thrown open. From that time on the work has been pushed rapidly forward, until at last, in this "utilitarian age," the splendid dream of the unknown architect is fully realized, a veritable "poem in stone."

The building is 511 feet in length, by 231 in breadth. The towers reach to the imposing height of 511 feet, and the west gable, corresponding to the width, is 231 feet high. The choir is 161 feet high, and the central nave rises to a height of 144 feet, with a breadth of 44 feet. Externally, the building has a double range of stupendous flying buttresses and intervening piers, bristling with a perfect forest of pinnacles. The form of the church is a cross, and the arches are supported by a quadruple row of sixty-four columns, In the choir there are several stained windows belonging to the fourteenth century, which are regarded as unusually fine. Around the choir, against the columns, stand colossal figures of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and the twelve Apostles, sculptured in the same century; and in a small chapel behind the high altar stands the celebrated "Shrine of the Three Kings of Cologne," or Wise Men of the East, whose bones are supposed to repose therein. The other parts of the building have been completed with careful fidelity to the original design, and it is now, in its finished state, as was written of it many years ago, "at once the most regular and most stupendous Gothic monument existing."