Cologne - St. Severin

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

The "Severin Strasse" named after the church once was a Roman road running south through a Roman necropolis. An Christian oratory existed here already at the end of the 4th century. In Carolingian times a basilica was here. A community of clerics had settled and already before 800 St. Severin, the third Bishop of Cologne, is documented as patron saint.

The construction of a three-aisled basilica started in the 10th century. About 1230 the choir was extended over the hall crypt (which is mostly locked nowadays). In this crypt the relics of St. Severin were stored. The new choir got consecrated in 1237.

Around 1500 the Romanesque church got reconstructed in Gothic style and the Gothic tower was finally completed in 1550. The convent got dissolved 1802 after the French took over Cologne and St. Severin became a parish church.

During WWII St. Severin got severely damaged, the vaults of the central nave were down, all roofs were destroyed. The reconstruction was done 1945 - 1961.

The common sight of the nave - with furniture.

The reliquary of St. Severin was opened in 1999 for an examination. It turned out that the relics were stored together with textiles in a separate reliquary box made of oak wood. This box had seals from earlier openings, including one from the time of Archbishop Hermann III of Hochstaden (1055-1099). According to the investigations, the bones and the silk fabrics into which they were wrapped date from the time around 400, the time when Bishop Severin is said to have lived according to tradition. The wooden shrine was built between 939 and 949 after dendrochronological examinations.