SAINT-PANTALEON CHURCH IN COLOGNE

Saint-Pantaléon is the oldest church in the city, it is mainly Romanesque. Before the arrival of Christianity, a Roman villa stood on this site. The remains can still be seen in the eastern part of the crypt. Around 870, a church was built on the ruins of the Roman villa in honor of the Greek martyr Saint Pantaleon. In 957, Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, brother of Emperor Otto the Great, founded a Benedictine abbey next to the church of St. Pantaleon. The archbishop was buried in the existing church in 965. A year later, in 966, the construction of a church to accompany the new abbey began. This church had a single nave with a flat roof, a small Carolingian-style apse and square transepts. It was consecrated by Archbishop Warin of Cologne on October 24, 980. Empress Theophanu (wife of Otto II) enlarged the new church by adding an apse with a crypt to the east. The western facade was decorated with sculptures of Christ, the enthroned saints Albanus and Pantaleon, and angels, which did not survive. The renovation work was completed in 996, five years after the death of the empress, who was buried in the church. St. Pantaleon's church was renovated again around 1150-1160, with the addition of the aisles and the decorative floor. In 1620-1622, the eastern apse and the vault of the nave were renovated. Napoleon and his troops destroyed the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pantaléon in 1803. The church was damaged during World War II and took several decades to repair. The nave had no ceiling until 1962. The exterior of St. Pantaleon is very Romanesque, with a monumental entrance hall. The north chapel of the Westwerk houses the tomb of Empress Theophanu in Greek marble. The empress sponsored the extension of St. Pantaleon's church and asked to be buried here. The south transept houses the altar of St. Pantaleon, topped by a beautiful painted altarpiece. Pieces of medieval wall paintings of Christ and scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary are mounted on the wall. These were originally in the crypt and date from around 1230. They represent from left to right: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and the Death of the Virgin. The facade of the nave is dominated by a sumptuous late Gothic choir screen, decorated with paintings and sculptures. It is flanked by two shrines decorated with jewels to the patron saints of the church: Albanus on the right (1886 shrine) and Pantaleon on the left (12th century shrine). Outside, a nest of greenery surrounds the church and its square tower. Architectural detail: the two side towers, built in squares, end in cylinders.