St. Maria im Kapitol, Romanesque church in Altstadt-Süd, Germany
St. Maria im Kapitol is a Romanesque and Gothic church in Altstadt-Süd, Cologne, Germany, known for its cloverleaf floor plan with three matching apses. An ambulatory wraps around these apses, continuing from the side aisles and linking the eastern sections of the interior.
A first chapel appeared here in 690, built upon the base of a Roman temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad. In the 11th century, Archbishop Hermann II commissioned the current Romanesque structure.
The name recalls the Capitoline Hill in Rome, since the building stands above ruins of an ancient temple. When you step inside, the interplay between rounded arches and pointed windows draws your eye upward.
The church stands on Marienplatzstraße a short walk from the Rhine waterfront and is easy to reach on foot. If you want to study the doors and the altar area closely, allow extra time and pay attention to shifting daylight.
Behind the left side altar hangs a fork cross, one of the oldest surviving Y-shaped representations in Germany. This rare form shows Christ with outstretched arms on a forked crossbeam.
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