The Basilica church of St. Ursula is located in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 the Rhineland

Rhineland

Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is built upon the ancient ruins of a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

, where the 11,000 virgins associated with the legend of Saint Ursula

Saint Ursula

Saint Ursula is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the extraordinary form calendar of the Catholic Church is October 21...

 were said to have been buried. The church has an impressive reliquary

Reliquary

A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...

 created from the bones of the former occupants of the cemetery.
It is one of the twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne

Twelve romanesque churches of Cologne

The twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne are twelve landmark churches in the Old town of Cologne, Germany. All twelve churches are Roman Catholic.- Churches :The twelve churches are1:* St. Andreas in Altstadt-Nord, est. 974...

 and was designated a Minor Basilica

Minor basilica

Minor basilica is a title given to some Roman Catholic churches. By canon law no Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom....

 on 25 June 1920.
While the nave and crossing tower are Romanesque, the choir has been rebuilt in the Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style.

See also

• Twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne
  Twelve romanesque churches of Cologne
  The twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne are twelve landmark churches in the Old town of Cologne, Germany. All twelve churches are Roman Catholic.- Churches :The twelve churches are1:* St. Andreas in Altstadt-Nord, est. 974...
  
  
• List of basilica churches in Germany
• Victor von Carben
  Victor von Carben
  Victor von Carben was a German rabbi of Cologne who converted to Catholicism and later became a priest. Victor endeavored to show his zeal for his new religion by writing against his former coreligionists....
  
  

Literature

• Heinz Firmenich: St. Ursula und die Maria-Ablaß-Kapelle in Köln. Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz, Köln 1976, ISBN 3-88094-150-5
• Werner Schäfke: Kölns romanische Kirchen. Architektur Kunst Geschichte. Emons, Köln 2004, ISBN 3-89705-321-7
• Hiltrud Kier, Ulrich Krings: Die Romanischen Kirchen in Köln, Vista Point Verlag, Köln 1991, ISBN 3-88973-601-7
• Gernot Nürnberger: Die Ausgrabungen in St. Ursula zu Köln Dissertation, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn 2002
• Sabine Czymmek, Die Kölner romanischen Kirchen, Schatzkunst, Bd. 2, Köln 2009 (= Colonia Romanica, Jahrbuch des Fördervereins Romanische Kirchen Köln e. V., Bd. XXIII, 2008), S. 225-289, ISBN 978-3-7743-0422-2

External links