Great St. Martin Church, Cologne

The Great Saint Martin Church is a Romanesque Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. Its foundations (circa 960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel, built on what was then an island in the Rhine. The church was later transformed into a Benedictine monastery. The current buildings, including a soaring crossing tower that is a landmark of Cologne's Old Town, were erected between 1150-1250. The architecture of its eastern end forms a triconch or trefoil plan, consisting of three apses around the crossing, similar to that at St. Maria im Kapitol. The church was badly damaged in World War II; restoration work was completed in 1985.As of 2009 Great Saint Martin is being used by a branch of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem and is open for visits again.HistoryThe story of Great St. Martin is inextricably connected to that of the Benedictine abbey, located at the church for most of its history. A few documents from the time of the building have survived, and it is from these that knowledge of its founding comes. This information is also supported by archeological findings onsite and the study of the style of building and its ornamentation.Apocryphal historiesThe Cologne text Aedidius Gelenius, a catalogue of local saints, mentions in the 1645 edition a possible origin for the church in pre-Carolingian times. The missionaries Viro and Plechelmus, who later were affiliated with the Kaiserswerth cloister, are said to have come to the Rhine, to found monasteries and churches. They were said to be sponsored by Pippen and Plectrudis, situating their work during the years 752-768. It is possible that these two founded a church that would later become Great St. Martin.