• Germany edition
Society
Photo: DPA

Cologne Cathedral gets bad vibrations

Published: 9 Jan 13 14:56 CET | Print version
Updated: 9 Jan 13 16:01 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130109-47239.html

One of Germany's most important landmarks is being literally undermined by a new underground train line - visitors to Cologne Cathedral have reported vibrations and noises since a nearby station went into operation.

Cathedral officials have written a letter to Cologne Mayor Jürgen Roters to notify him of potential damage to the city's world famous building, the Kölnische Rundschau newspaper reported on Wednesday. The mayor promptly called a crisis meeting with the local transport authority, the KVB.

Though the train tunnels near the cathedral were first dug several years ago, the tremors were noticed on December 9, the day that the city's No. 5 underground line first went to the new Dom/Hauptbahnhof station.

The vibrations were confirmed by an earthquake measuring station, which has five sensors inside the cathedral.

Cologne's nearby philharmonic concert hall has reported similar problems since new underground train tracks were installed.

Two people were killed when the city's historical archive building collapsed in 2009 and a subsequent inquiry blamed mistakes made at a nearby underground train track construction site.

Cologne Cathedral, the construction of which took over six centuries to complete, is one of Germany's most popular tourist sites, attracting six million visitors every year.

The Local/bk

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

15:49 January 9, 2013 by digitalcosmonaut
"Cologne Cathedral, the construction of which took over six centuries to complete, is one of Berlin's most popular tourist sites, attracting six million visitors every year."

2 errors in here. The Cologne Cathedral isnt in Berlin - and theoretically it isnt finished, and it never will be. As the legend has it the world will end/something bad will happen upon its completion, hence why they keep on "building".
16:09 January 9, 2013 by lucksi
It's a small wonder it is still standing.

Take a really old landmark, build a giant train station next to it, build parking garages underneath it and now another subway line also directly underneath.
19:46 January 9, 2013 by wasserball
@digitalcosmonaut

they heard you loud and clear. :)
19:46 January 9, 2013 by Englishted
@ digitalcosmonaut

Well spotted but do you think they may meant Berlin airport will take over 6 centuries to complete .

Maybe it is the priests and choirboys that are causing the vibrations but the R.C. church has stopped the investigation.
14:31 January 10, 2013 by raandy
Englishted :-)

Sounds shakey to me.
04:12 January 11, 2013 by stablemate
maybe koln church not like feel for underground.....i believe in history....the dome has heart.....smile)
15:03 January 11, 2013 by DES_Toronto
It's something to monitor but not necessarily something to panic about. We feel subway vibrations in many buildings in downtown Toronto, yet none of them has collapsed yet. -- By the way, I know the Cologne cathedral is huge and impressive and historic, but I found it horribly gloomy and oppressive. Walking through it, I really understood why the word Gothic, when it began to be used for a certain style of architecture, was intended to suggest something ugly and barbarous.
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