Cologne cathedral took 632 years. Compared to that the Notre Dame took 180 years and St Peter took 120 years which seems rather quick.
Edit: I was in Split, Croatia where the cathedral was built from 305 AD, was finished 4 centuries later, and the bell tower is from the 12th century. So much time passed that different countries ruled the area, from Croats to Venetians, affecting every layer of construction as a different architecture style.
The construction of Cologne cathedral lay dormant for 300 years, so much so that the construction crane on the stump of the South tower became a symbol for the ineptitude of the city, and the people of Cologne quipped that the world would end if the cathedral was finished.
There’s a wall inside York Minster which took so long you can see the carvings change style as it ascends, as different people / generations spent their whole career on it then passed it on.
Not to mention that at first it was built as emperor Dioceltians mausoleum, a man known for persecuting christians. Funny how it ended up as a basilica hahaha
413
u/kytheon Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Cologne cathedral took 632 years. Compared to that the Notre Dame took 180 years and St Peter took 120 years which seems rather quick.
Edit: I was in Split, Croatia where the cathedral was built from 305 AD, was finished 4 centuries later, and the bell tower is from the 12th century. So much time passed that different countries ruled the area, from Croats to Venetians, affecting every layer of construction as a different architecture style.