Choir Apse, St. Kunibert, Cologne

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 16 April 2008 in Architecture.

Cologne offers more than the Cathedral: at least a dozen Romanesque churches (the "big" ones, there are many smaller ones in the suburbs) are ready for a visit. Most of them were gravely damaged during the war, some of them totally. So 1985 was an important year for the city of Cologne when the last of the twelve churches was fully restored. (One tower of St. Kunibert followed some years later. This answers the question if it's still possible to build like our forefathers: yes, it is.)

St. Kunibert is the youngest of the Romanesque churches, consecrated in 1247, only one year before construction of the Cathedral begun. Dedicated to Kunibert, one of the first bishops of Cologne, it offers a very light, pure Romanesque architecture. Fortunately, many pieces of original art from the past survived the times, like the upper windows in the choir apse. We'll have a closer look at this in the near future.

Download my coffee-table book of selected postings here. Enjoy!

Comments (12)

kooshan jazayeri from karaj, Iran

really good , just great

16 Apr 2008 5:24am

@kooshan jazayeri: Thanks, kooshan, glad you like it!

MaryB from Staffordshire, United Kingdom

I don't think I've seen a Church in this style before, how very beautiful it is too and the art work and stained glass windows are magnificent.
Very much looking forward to seeing more MS :)

16 Apr 2008 8:54am

@MaryB: The Romanesque churches of Cologne are fine examples for this kind of architecture. Kunibert is quite big and a last highlight of that style before Gothic took over.

Michael from Wuppertal, Germany

Grandios- hier stimmt einfach alles!
Sieht mir verdächtig nach einem hdr aus ;-)

16 Apr 2008 9:25am

@Michael: Alles Natur, Kunibert ist ne helle Kirche :-) (Okay, bißchen Perspektivenkorrektur mußte sein. Und die Fenster sind jetzt ein bißchen abgedunkelt.)

Irwansyah Sk3tchw!nd from Dumai, Indonesia

perspective this photo very strong,

nice angle

16 Apr 2008 10:00am

@Irwansyah Sk3tchw!nd: Thank you so much!

Margie from Auckland, New Zealand

Awesome shot. I love the composition.

16 Apr 2008 7:05pm

@Margie: Thanks, Margie! The sobriety of this room makes it possible and easy.

Ina from Krugersdorp, South Africa

Awesome windows! Wouldn't mind if I had a house with windows like this all around... can you imagine all the colored reflections when the sun comes through :)

16 Apr 2008 7:52pm

@Ina: Maybe a market niche? :)

Brites from Lisboa, Portugal

Very well framed.

16 Apr 2008 8:18pm

@Brites: Thanks! You'll like the other shots of this church I'll present in the next days. :)

lucie from san francisco, United States

wow this is a gorgeous photo!! I think I have been in this church. Where in Koln is it located?

16 Apr 2008 9:42pm

@lucie: It's to the north of the Cologne cathedral, not far away from the center of the city. Click here on the 'Location' or 'Google Maps' link and you'll see the exact position.

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

Great vertical, very soft at first I thought it was in B&W.

17 Apr 2008 1:44am

@JoeB: Yes, the light is very mellow, the whole room has a very clean appearance.

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

That altar painting looks interesting.

17 Apr 2008 4:20pm

@Twelvebit: A cruxifixion scene from the Master of the Legend of St George (15th century, I think).

drphoto from Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

I really like how you've captured this (looks like a vertical pano?) but it feels a little gloomy. I think maybe you were trying to keep detail in the windows?

If you have photoshop you can create a levels (or curves) adjustment layer and brighten the whole image, then paint into the mask to reduce the brightening effects on the windows, thus saving the detail. I have done a quick edit to to make the image look like this but if you spend more time and care on it you can make it look more to your own taste.

Hope you don't mind.

Dan

18 Apr 2008 5:20pm

@drphoto: Dan, many many thanks for that tip and your interest in my pics! Actually I'm a Mac user and I'm using Aperture and Gimp (especially being a n00b in the latter one!) Here I have selectively toned down the windows to make their patterns visible (in the original they appeared overexposed). I felt the light was 'right' in that church in the sense of preserving as much detail as possible without having to use a high ISO value - in the end I could use ISO 100 because I had a tripod at hand. Next time I'll be there I'll do an exposure latitude to get me more flexibility and in order to give HDR a try. I'm still learning that stuff as you can see, so I'm grateful for any advice! Thanks again! :-)

drphoto from Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Well, you were actually there, so are much more qualified to say what the right amount of light is. I hope I didn't come across as arrogant. I think this would be a great location to try HDR =D) I haven't used GIMP since they were beta testing the first windows version (back when I couldn't afford Photoshop). I remember it being a sophisticated photo editing tool but its been so long since I used it I wouldn't know enough to give any tips on producing HDR images with it.

Dan

19 Apr 2008 4:02am

@drphoto: No sweat! :-D I'm really thankful for any comment and especially every good advice from commited people like you! HDR is my next big thing, but I have to find a nice software to tinker with yet. Gimp comes very close to Photoshop (AFAIK plugins are compatible) and it's my tool of choice (besides Aperture) because PS is way too expensive for me.

Add your comment ...

next day →