My question for the day yesterday was "What is a Münster?" This stems from a recent German class I had where we had to give a "tour" of things to do in the city of Essen (which, ironically means food or to eat.) The teacher asked us if we knew this word. I did, actually, but it gives me a great chance to also tell you about it and about one of the most impressive ones in Germany.
So - if you are from the Wisconsin area, you may be saying to yourself, well of course this is cheese. But the word actually means church of a monastery or cathedral. One of the best known cathedrals in all of G
ermany and Europe for that matter is the Cologne Cathedral. Physically, it has many distinctions - one of the largest churches in the world, the tallest building in the world from 1880 to 1884 only to be surpassed at the time by our beloved Washington Monument, the second tallest church spires in the world, and the largest facade of any church in the world. The detail work on the outside walls is simply breathtaking.They began building the church in 1248 upon the destruction of the former church on the site due to fire. The grandeur of the church was planned in order to properly house the relics of the Three Kings. The local archbishop knew that this would draw many visitors to the city in order to pay respects to these relics. Building continued until 1322 when the first section was completed. By the mid 1300s, work began again on the next section and progressed through till 1473; however, work stopped in mid construction and the crane being used at the time left in place. It remained over the tower it was constructing for an additional 400 years! Although minor portions were continued on the lower levels, real work on the cathedral did not begin again until 1842. Charitable donations in the amount of over $1 billion in today's US dollars were raised and the government paid the rest (abo
ut $330 million) to complete the structure. In 1880, it was finally completed and was celebrated as a national event with the participation of the German emperor Wilhelm I, and as mentioned before, gained the significance of being the largest building in the world.The city of Cologne was devastated by the Allied bombings of World War II. The church suffered several direct hits; however, it miraculously did not collapse. Additional damage was inflicted on the structure at the end of the war when Allied troops used the building for target practice. As with all of Germany after the war, great care was taken to repair the damages done by war and were completed in 1956. Repairs done during the war to keep the building from collapsing, though, were not able to be done so meticulously, and they showed through the exteriors until the 1990s when a final restoration job to properly repair these sections was completed. It should be noted, though, that due to the size an
d age of the structure, repair work still goes on today and is basically ongoing on at least some section of the structure at all times.Sadly, in 2004, the site was being crowded out with modern structures and was placed on the World Heritage in Danger sites as the only western site on the list. But this move encouraged the local government to take measures to remove the church from this list by significantly restricting the types of buildings and structures the could be built near the church. Today, it is off the endangered list and enjoying millions of visitors each year. Many come for the pilgrimage experience, but another wonderful experience is to hear the 12 bells, one of which weighs 24 tons and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world. Another aspect of the church is the dueling organs within the church. The current organs, although relatively recent installations, are a special feature to this old world building providing splendid concerts along with the exceptional talents of the five different choirs of the church. I would highly recommend, if you ever have the opportunity, going to a concert here.
The word for today is church: die Kirche (keer che - again that cat sound.)
The question for today is "So what is muenster cheese really named for?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
