Basilica of St. Cunibert, Cologne

The Basilica of St. Cunibert also St. Kunibert is the last of Cologne's twelve Romanesque churches to be built. It was consecrated 1247, one year before work on the Gothic Cologne Cathedral began. It was declared a minor Basilica in 1998 by the then Pope John Paul II.HistoryA small church located at a burial ground north of the Roman city was founded or renewed by Cunibert, ninth Bishop of Cologne. Cunibert was also buried there. After 690 the Two Ewalds were buried in the church as well.The church was originally dedicated to Saint Clement, but Cunibert was adored alongside him at least since the ninth century and a monastery Saint Kunibert was first mentioned in records 866. Around the middle of the eleventh century the direct predecessor of the current church was built. Later a parish with the dean as parson was allocated to the monastery. The church became a pilgrimage site after the Canonization of the Two Ewalds in 1074 and of Cunibert in 1168.Between 1210 and 1215 the erection of the current building started. The choir was finished 1226 and the church consecrated in 1247. Until 1261 a transept and a tower were added to the west.The monastery ceased to exist in 1802 as a result of the secularization under Napoleonic reign and the monastery buildings were eventually torn down in 1821. However the church remained in use by the local parish.