Cologne Cathedral

Why go

Cologne Cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Cologne, dedicated to St Peter, beside the city's central station. The cathedral's history page says the foundation stone of the Gothic building was laid on 15 August 1248 and that it was completed in 1880, on a site where a large church stood by the 6th century at the latest, and that it keeps the relics of the Magi, brought to Cologne in 1164; the chapter calls it a World Heritage site. Its visit page says that since 1 July 2026 a ticket is required for tourist visits to the interior, which are possible outside church services, and that tickets for the interior, the treasury and the tower are sold online and at the Central Ticket Office on Roncalliplatz. It adds that people who come to pray can use the North Transept entrance facing the station outside service times, and that the house rules ask visitors to respect the building as a place of worship.