The Church of the Holy Apostles is one of Cologne's cultural landmarks. This Romanesque basilica is located within the city limits, and is also run by a major foundation supporting Romanesque churches. It is believed that the very first building on the site of the present basilica appeared as early as the ninth century, and a monastery was founded here another century later.
Subsequently, the construction of a hall church began, fragments of which can still be seen today. For example, the masonry of the outer part of the nave is well preserved, as well as the western arm of the transept and almost the entire central nave. In 1150, a new choir was built in the western part of the church, and then a tower, the height of which reached 67 metres. This construction made the basilica the third largest Romanesque tower in the whole of Europe.
Until the XII century the church building was outside the city, the walls passed just in front of the basilica, but in 1106 the construction of new fortifications and walls began, thanks to which it was within the city. In 1150 a significant reconstruction of the building began, which could be due to two reasons. According to the first version of historians, the cause could be a fire, and according to the second - it is assumed that at this time began a boom of construction in the entire city of Cologne, which could be reflected in the Church of the Holy Apostles.
Unfortunately, almost nothing of the interior decoration of the church and the grand interior that originally characterised the basilica has survived due to the large amount of restoration work and destruction throughout its history. Currently, the church is almost entirely painted white on the inside. It is worth noting that the Church of the Holy Apostles received the status of a Minor Basilica only in 1965. And since 2010 it has become the centre of one of Cologne's Catholic communities.
