The Richter-Fenster Cologne

Come to my window...

Stephan from Cologne

""The Richter-Fenster" is a 106 square meter stained glass window in the Cologne Cathedral, the Dom. I keep coming here even if I've seen it so many times."

The Richter-Fenster is a work of art, a stained glass window in the southern nave of the Kölner Dom cathedral. It is so famous that many visitors only come to the church to see that window. I too love to go see the Richter-Fenster with relatives & friends – even if they have been to the Dom many times before. Like me, they are fascinated by the history and the facts about the window. The oldest window in the Dom is from 1260 and the Richter-Fenster was inaugurated in 2007. The men of the Cologne Dom charter were looking for a new design for that spot, and at the end Gerhard Richter from Dresden, born 1932, got the job. The art works of the painter, sculptor and photographer are amongst the most expensive of a currently living artist, but in this case he worked for free.

The Richter-Fenster is spread over 106 square meters and is made of 11,263 pieces of glass in the 72 different colours that also appear in the other windows of the Dom. With a computer, the artist created a random pattern, while lines 1 & 3, 2 & 5, and 4 & 6 mirror each other.

The former cardinal didn’t like the artwork so much -- he even considered moving his seat in the church to look the other way.

The Press wrote : “The impression is spectacular. A huge abstract picture. Held by the 20m long struts... it appears to float.”

Enjoy a meditative artwork in a meditative space.

(Accessible at any time during opening hours - except during church services.)

Art & culture

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Cologne Spotter Stephan

About me Born in the south of Germany, on Lake Constance, close to Switzerland and Austria, I started traveling as a little boy. Before college (social pedagogy), I traveled to Eastern Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Today I work as a TV producer in Cologne, having lived here for 16 years. I am still traveling, but I also go on ‘safaris’ in my home town: I book guided tours or visit new sites, read about their history and so on. No friend visits me in Cologne without seeing a new interesting spot... Why Cologne “Cologne is a village and everyone is a member of the f...

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Dec 2, 2025

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