It is the largest church in German Cologne and the second-highest Gothic religious building in the world. It dates from the thirteenth century, and in 1996 was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The building is a classic example of French cathedral Gothic architecture. 12 bells hang on the church towers, including four Gothic from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and Saint Peter's Bell, which is the largest bell in Europe.
Particularly noteworthy are wall paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries depicting images of saints and scenes from the Bible. On the north side of the cathedral there is the Gerona Crucifix - the oldest preserved monumental Western Roman crucifix from the tenth century. On the southern side, visitors can see the 15th-century Altar of the Magi next to which stands the early Gothic sculpture of the Madonna of Milan from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries.
