Kartäuserkirche
Gothic church of the 1334 Cologne Charterhouse — now an Evangelical parish church with stained-glass windows by Charles Crodel.
The Kartäuserkirche was part of the Cologne Charterhouse, a Carthusian monastery founded in 1334. Today it serves the Evangelical Congregation of Cologne as a parish church and belongs to the Cologne-Left-Rhine Church District.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Former monastery church, now an Evangelical parish church
- Location
- Altstadt-Süd, Innenstadt district
- Style
- Gothic
- Construction
- Mid-14th century to 1393 (high altar consecration)
- Patron saint
- St. Barbara of Nicomedia
- Layout
- Single-nave, seven-bay, with ribbed vaulting and a polygonal apse
- Interior
- 23 stained-glass windows by Charles Crodel
After being deconsecrated in 1794, the Kartäuserkirche was used as a storage room for a military hospital for over 125 years – first French, then Prussian – before being handed over to the Protestant congregation in 1923, despite originally being a Catholic monastery church.
History
The church was built from the mid-14th century onwards in austere Gothic forms. In 1425/27, the Angels' Chapel and the Mary Chapel were added on the north side. A rood screen divided the interior into a clerical and a lay brothers' section until it was demolished in the early 19th century. In 1794, the French authorities dissolved the monastery — the first in Cologne to be suppressed — after which the deconsecrated building served as a military hospital storeroom until the early 1920s.
Becoming a Parish Church
In 1923, the Evangelical Congregation of Cologne received the church and parts of the monastery as a substitute for the Pantaleonskirche. The restored building reopened for worship on 16 September 1928. Heavy bomb damage in 1945 destroyed much of the complex. During reconstruction (1946–53) under architect Georg Eberlein, the decision was made to restore the Gothic appearance of the original build, largely removing later — especially Baroque — alterations. The result is a plain preaching space whose impact comes entirely from its architecture.
20th-Century Interior
The furnishings installed between 1953 and 1959 are largely the work of close friends Gerhard Marcks and Charles Crodel. Crodel created the 23 stained-glass windows — including a depiction of the last vine of the Carthusian garden — using, among other materials, gold glass that only August Wagner in Berlin was able to produce. Marcks contributed the altar table with cross, baptismal font, pulpit, and pews. Since 2011, the triptych The Holy Family by Jürgen Hans Grümmer — who used the chapter house as his studio in the 1990s — has stood in the chancel.
Good to Know
Unlike most Carthusian churches, which are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, this church is dedicated to St. Barbara — a dedication carried over from an earlier predecessor building. The ceilings of the Angels' Chapel and the Mary Chapel feature floral paintings from the original construction period; those in the Mary Chapel were reconstructed in 1950.
Timeline
- 1334Foundation of the Carthusian monastery in Cologne
- 1393High altar consecration – church construction (from mid-14th c.) completed
- 1425/27Angel and Mary chapels built on the north side
- 1510Expansion of the northern sacristy by the convent
- 1794French dissolve the monastery; church desecrated, used as military hospital
- 1923Church and monastery sections transferred to the Evangelical Community of Cologne
- 1928From 16 September: restored building used again as a Protestant church
- 1945–1953Heavy bomb damage in 1945; restoration 1946–53 under architect Georg Eberlein
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-26