During our many visits to the cathedrals and churches, I found my thoughts poised somewhere between two positions. One was awe at the incredible architecture, art, sheer size, devotion, and reverence. The other was the disproportionate expense of human sacrifice and deprivation caused by taking so many resources out of the hands of the common people and into the coffers of the churches. This was one of the tenets of the protestant reformation, and it is still evident today in the differences between the European Catholic and Protestant chapels and cathedrals. The only way I can reconcile both positions in my own mind is to hope that these splendid buildings were indeed monuments to God and not to mortal men. If they were truly dedicated to God, then they are indeed monuments of devotion to the Most High, in the most beautiful ways known to all of mankind. If they were built in praise of mortal men or to show off the wealth of local nobles, then it is a shame that such grandeur is misplaced.
Cologne was also the center of a large Jewish population in the Middle Ages. Currently, archaeological excavations are under way to show ruins from the Middle Ages, and even from the Roman Empire. One site that we were privileged to see was an ancient Jewish "mikvah," or ritual bath. Having studied some of these Old Testament rites, this was of tender interest to me. Our tour guide explained to us that during the horrible black plague in the mid fourteenth century, Jewish citizens were protected from illness by the cleanliness standards they observed through these ritual baths. Envious and suspicious of the Jews' good health, some early Christians who were terrorized by the plagues, accused the Jews of causing the illness or "curse." Tragically, they ordered the mass slaying of thousands of Jews. It sorrows me to know that the Holocaust of the twentieth century was not a new concept for Europe, but a continuation of human suffering that had endured many centuries.
Since it was Sunday, we did not shop or eat in restaurants in Cologne. I regretted missing a chance to purchase authentic cologne in Cologne, but such it is. Instead, we visited as many of the old historic churches as we could find. We did a lot of walking, and it was an unseasonably warm late spring day, but we enjoyed the cool and quiet of many beautiful sanctuaries. Most of the churches had posted photos that showed the damage that the buildings had suffered during Wold War II, and the reconstruction that had been done in the past seventy years. Some stained glass windows had been removed and protected during the bombings. Others were not spared. The huge Cologne Cathedral was not hit with bombs, but rather was purposefully left untouched to act as a visual landmark for the bomber pilots who flew over the city. The building was preserved for grim reasons, but gratefully, it was preserved.
We walked in both the old and new sections of the city. The older sections were mostly rebuilt to recreate their former medieval splendor. The work of restoration is impressive and beautifully authentic . The modern sections were quite urban and not unlike parts of our own cities in the United States. A major difference was that there were fewer visible cars. The apartments had hidden driveways and garages that seemed tiny and difficult to access. The old and the new elements were mixed in the cobblestone streets that ran between beautiful old buildings but were sadly littered with trash, beer bottles and used drug syringes from the parties of the previous night. The revelers had gone home to bed, and we tourists enjoyed the quiet, if dirty streets, in the early Sunday morning.
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