# Interior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, German]() - Date: 1251-1300 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary By 1248, the existing cathedral in Cologne, dating from the Carolingian and Ottonian eras, had become hopelessly small and old-fashioned. The ambitions entertained the people of Cologne can be judged by the scale and lavishness of a Late Romanesque shrine for the relics of the Magi. It is not only the largest of all the shrines, it was also their culmination. Similarly, the new cathedral of which the foundation stone was laid in 1248 was also to be the culmination of everything that had gone before. The cathedral had to be in the French Gothic style, based on the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris \(that is on the Amiens Cathedral, the model for Sainte-Chapelle\). The artistic aim in Cologne was to achieve perfect architecture. When the choir of the cathedral was consecrated in 1322, the first part of the building of the cathedral had been completed. The photo shows the interior of the nave. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/13c/1/cologne.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</a> of the Cathedral, Cologne. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Baumburg Tower]() - [East view \(detail\)]() - [Exterior view \(detail\)]() - [Exterior view from the east]() - [Exterior view from the east]() - [Exterior view from the north-east]() - [Exterior view from the north-east]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()