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The Cologne Cathedral Window is the stained glass window in the south transept of the
Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (, , officially , English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archd ...
designed by
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
artist
Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...
. On a surface of 106 square metres, 11,263 glass squares in 72 colours of 9,6 cm × 9.6 cm were principally arranged randomly, with others selected in response to architectural context. The window was inaugurated on 25 August 2007 as part of a
Eucharistic The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
celebration; the abstract execution was both celebrated and strongly criticized.


Predecessors

Originally, in 1863, windows with the depiction of secular and Christian rulers made by the Royal Stained Glass Institute in Berlin-Charlottenburg had been installed, donated by the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
. The windows were destroyed in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and replaced in 1948 by a simple ornamental glazing by
Wilhelm Teuwen Wilhelm Teuwen (16 August 1908 – 21 August 1967) was a German artist best known for his stained glass work. Biography Teuwen was born on 16 August 1908 in Willich, Anrath and since 1923 studied at the art school in Krefeld. After graduation in 1 ...
, that was in need of restoration. Because of their colourlessness, the incident light was very bright, which was perceived as very disturbing.


Prehistory and implementation

In 2003 the
cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
for the Cologne cathedral decided to have the window renewed. The original designs from the 19th century were, like the stained glass windows themselves, destroyed in World War II and no longer available. It was planned to make a memorial to the German
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
s of the twentieth century, such as
Edith Stein Edith Stein (; ; in religion Teresa Benedicta of the Cross; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German philosopher who converted to Catholic Church, Catholicism and became a Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite nun. Edith Stein was mu ...
and
Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; ; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Conventual Franciscan friar, missionary, saint, martyr, and a Nazi concentration camp victim, who volunteered to die in place ...
, and to commemorate the Holocaust. The visual designs of the commissioned artists and Manfred Hürlimann could not convince the cathedral chapter, but the abstract design by Gerhard Richter, who had been asked to provide one by master builder Barbara Schock-Werner did. He had cut up a photo of his painting '' 4096 farben'' from 1974 and pasted it behind the
tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...
of the window. In 2005 the cathedral chapter asked Richter to develop the design further. In 2006, the artist was finally commissioned. The in manufacturing costs were funded by about 1,200 donors; Gerhard Richter himself worked without a fee.


Execution

From a palette of 800, Richter chose 72 colours that were also in use in the medieval windows of the cathedral and those of the 19th century. The coloured squares were arranged by a
random number generator Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols is generated that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance. This means that the particular ou ...
. Reflections and repetitions were predetermined, the lanes 1 and 3, 2 and 5 as well as 4 and 6 mirror each other. At a few spots Richter made corrections to the distribution, for example where the arrangement of the pixel was suggestive of meaning, for example in the lower part the number "1". Richter said to that: "I rather held myself back. I wanted the window to have something self-evident, something everyday, at least it should not be 'color noise'. Not too warm, not too cold, restrained, as neutral as possible." "This interaction of chance and calculation created an abstract 'colour-tone carpet' whose particles glow in the light of day and are not held together with lead cames, but fixed on a support disc with silicone gel, so that the coloured facets interact without the usual lines in the glass painting. In addition, the different incidence of light continually changes the colour effect of the window". The window was fabricated by Derix Glasstudios.


Reception

Georg Imdahl wrote in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: "In the 60s Richter painted his first colour grids as an attack against the falsehood and piety, how abstraction was celebrated, with phoney reverence; downright fulminating against "devotional art" and "religious applied arts", as which the grids were celebrated". Master builder Barbara Schock-Werner: "Stained glass can only be done on the premises". Initial designs had a "bathroom touch" or would have emitted the light of a "tavern glazing". Richter himself found one of the designs "too Christmas-like". Cologne cardinal Joachim Meisner, who was not part of the cathedral chapter, strongly criticized the window: "The window would be better suited to a mosque or another house of prayer. If we're going to have a new window, it should be one that reflects our faith. Not just any." In Islam, pictorial representations of people (as created in God's image) are prohibited. The statement was later relativized by the spokesman of the archdiocese, but it nevertheless came to nationwide attention in the media. "In seiner überwältigenden Farbenfülle ist es selbst eine Symphonie des Lichts, in der alle Farben des Doms erklingen", "In its overwhelming abundance of colours, it is itself a symphony of light in which all the colours of the cathedral ring out" concluded Josef Sauerborn, artist pastor of the Cologne diocese, in his sermon at the festival service on the occasion of the unveiling in August 2007. "Dieses Fenster stellt nichts Religiöses dar" "This window does not represent anything religious", explained provost in 2006, "but a challenge to seeing; it invites silence, it creates a light shimmering with colours, it animates, inspirits, calls for meditation and creates a flair that opens for the religious". The window also found the approval of those responsible for the
Reims Cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims (; ; meaning "Our Lady of Reims"), known in English as Reims Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in the French city of the same name, the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and wa ...
, who also considered Richter for the design of a window; after Richter declined, the commission was given to the artist Imi Knoebel.


Bibliography

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References


External links

* Dombau Köln
Freunde und Förderer – Stiftungen
* Werner Spies
Gerhard Richters Fenster: „Ein Ozean aus Glas im Kölner Dom“
'' FAZ'', 25. August 2007. {{Authority control Cologne Cathedral Stained glass windows Works by Gerhard Richter