When the day for consecration came, a long box containing, as was supposed, the poor woman, was carried to the cathedral, the door was opened, the lid of the box was taken off, and the unfortunate victim crawled on her knees into the church, the attendants sprinkling holy water all the time.
As she entered there was a terrific noise. Satan appeared, broke the neck of the unfortunate in the box, flying off, presumably, with her soul. He then flew to the architect’s house and broke his neck. As Satan disappeared from the church, the woman arose from the box, went into the building to pray, while the servants carried from the dome the carcass of a pig, which had been enveloped in a woman’s gown, and sacrificed.
This legend will not do, any more than the other legends you hear about these places. Satan could not have been fooled with a pig. It is no compliment to him. To suppose that he did not see the woman enter the church is to give him credit for very little intelligence and a most singular neglect of his own business; and the attempt to try to swindle him with so clumsy a contrivance is too absurd. And then why should Satan be perpetually swindled? The contract was a fair one, and should have been carried out in good faith.
It may be remarked, in passing, that Satan does not, now-a-days, appear to those having charge of government buildings in the United States, making offers of plans and other assistance, that he may get them in the end. He is too acute for that. Why should he go to the trouble of helping them, when he knows perfectly well that he will get them, anyhow? He doesn’t waste his time that way any longer.
The interior of the cathedral is large and very impressive, the fifty-six pillars which support the roof being of huge but graceful dimensions, giving a pleasing aspect to the whole. The stained glass windows are particularly fine, being among the best in Europe.
The various chapels that surround the nave are all handsomely decorated with statues, frescoes, and fine altars, done in the highest style of art. The wood carving representing The Passion in the altar of St. Clara is especially good, as is also the tapestry on the walls back of the choir stalls, illustrative of the Nicene creed and the seven sacraments. This tapestry was worked by the ladies of Cologne, and is a fine specimen of that style of art.
From the cathedral the visitor naturally turns to the other churches, but a hasty inspection of them is all that is required, for, after the cathedral, everything else loses its interest. There are some very imposing edifices, which, if they did not suffer so by comparison with the cathedral, would be considered fine specimens of early architecture. For instance, the Gross St. Martin, consecrated in 1172, which is a massive building, with an imposing tower surrounded by four corner turrets.
The still older church, St. Maria im Capital, consecrated in 1049, is in the shape of a cross, built in the Romanesque style. The interior is decorated with modern frescoes that are very badly done, being of light and gaudy colors, that do away entirely with the idea that they adorn a place of worship. Other churches of interest are, St. Peter’s and St. Cecilia, the former of the sixteenth and the latter of the tenth and twelfth century; St. Gereon, dedicated to the three hundred and eighteen martyrs of the Theban legion, with their Captain Gereon, who perished on the site of the church during the persecutions of the Christians under Diocletian.
On the substructure of an ancient Roman stronghold stands the Rath-house, a picturesque building erected in different centuries, beginning with the fourteenth. Here the meetings of Hanseatic League were held in the fourteenth century.
From the Rath-house the visitor turns to the markets, passing through narrow, dirty streets, with high overlapping houses, to the monument of Frederick William III., a huge equestrian statue of the King. Here is the Heumarkt, and a busy sight it is. As far as the eye can reach is a vast concourse of people, buying and selling all manner of things. The women, with their white caps and peculiar dresses, flit hither and yon, talking, laughing and jesting with men, who are arrayed in costumes that suggest the old Rheinish peasants, made familiar by the painters of the old Rheinish school.