Great St. Martin Church
+3 more
Tourist Attraction
Church
Place Of Worship
About
The Great Saint Martin Church (German: Groß Sankt Martin, mostly shortened to Groß St. Martin, pronounced [ˈɡʁoːs ˌzaŋkt ˈmaʁtiːn] or [- maʁˈtiːn] ; Kölsch: Jruhß Zint Määtes [ˈjʁús ˌtsɪ̂nt ˈmɛ́ːtəs] ) is a Romanesque Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. Its foundations (c. 960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel, built on what was then an island in the Rhine. The church was later transformed into a Benedictine monastery. The current buildings, including a soaring crossing tower that is a landmark of Cologne's Old Town, were erected between 1150–1250. The architecture of its eastern end forms a triconch or trefoil plan, consisting of three apses around the crossing, similar to that at St. Maria im Kapitol. The church was badly damaged in World War II; restoration work was completed in 1985.
