Krieler Dömchen
Cologne's second-oldest church after St. Gereon — a small Romanesque village chapel in Lindenthal with roots stretching back to around 900 AD.
Known by its affectionate nickname Krieler Dömchen, the church of Alt St. Stephan is considered the oldest ecclesiastical building in Cologne-Lindenthal and the second-oldest in the city overall, surpassed only by St. Gereon. It belongs to a group of 13 small Romanesque village churches that once lay outside the medieval city walls and have since been absorbed into the urban fabric.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Romanesque church, dedicated to the protomartyr Stephen
- Location
- Lindenthal, at Suitbert-Heimbach-Platz between Zülpicher Straße and Gleueler Straße, next to St. Albertus Magnus
- Origins
- 10th–11th century; transition to stone construction around 900 AD
- Architecture
- Two-aisled asymmetric basilica with a recessed choir bay and semicircular apse
- Dimensions
- 18.95 m long (including tower and apse), up to 6.50 m wide
- Listed
- Protected monument in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Stewardship
- Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln (Association for Cologne's Romanesque Churches)
According to legend, Charlemagne himself discovered a parish priest named Hildebold at this small village church – and later appointed him Archbishop of Cologne.
History
The exact year a Christian place of worship was first established here is unknown. In the first half of the 20th century, Cologne archaeologists uncovered cellar foundations, pottery shards, and a fragment of a relief-band amphora from the Carolingian period — finds that point to origins around 900 AD. Alt St. Stephan served as the parish church for the people of Kriel and the Catholic community of Lindenthal until 1887, when the new parish church of St. Stephan was consecrated on Bachemer Straße.
Architecture
Scholars identify three major building phases, each bringing significant changes. Around 900, a stone hall with a flat ceiling and slightly lower chancel likely replaced an earlier timber church — a two-room layout common in the early medieval Rhineland. The addition of the apse and the west tower with its pyramidal spire are attributed to around 1100. Further alterations in 1250, 1775, and the 20th century shaped the building as it stands today.
Roman Traces in the Foundations
Southwest Lindenthal was home to Roman brickyards that fell out of use in the early Middle Ages. The early Romanesque church was built on the foundations of an even older structure, for which Roman bricks appear to have been reused.
Worth Knowing
Three early Christian memorial stones were incorporated into the building: a trapezoidal stone bearing a resurrection cross serves as the keystone above the west portal, while two rectangular stones with volute crosses are set into the south wall. Cross stones of this type are found almost exclusively in the immediate Cologne area. According to tradition, the later Archbishop of Cologne, Hildebold, is said to have served as parish priest here before being discovered by Charlemagne.
Location and Surroundings
The outer Cologne Green Belt runs not far away. On its south side, the church is embraced in a semicircle by the churchyard — Lindenthal's oldest burial ground, used for interments until 1869.
Timeline
- 6. JahrhundertStephen mentioned as patron of Frankish churches (Gregory of Tours)
- um 900Conversion from wooden hall church to stone building
- um 900Carolingian artefacts date church construction; cellar foundations north of church
- um 1100Extension of apse and construction of west tower with pyramid spire
- 1250Further structural changes
- 1775Further structural changes
- 1869Last burials in Lindenthal's oldest churchyard
- 1887Consecration of new parish church St. Stephan; Krieler Dömchen loses parish status
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-26