Basilica of St. Ursula, Cologne

The church is named after Saint Ursula - here the legend: Saint Ursula was the daughter of an English king who wanted to visit the English settlers in France, probably Normandy. In her company were 11,000 virgins. The picture shows  the king saying fare well to them. In the following picture you see an altar with 11 female sculptures symbolizing the number of  11 times 1,000. Crossing the Canal to France, the ships got into a storm, lost their course and ended in the mouth of the river Rhine. Ursula appreciated this and navigated up the river to Cologne, where they were warmly welcomed. One night Ursula dreamt that she was obliged to go on a pilgrimage to the Pope in Rome.  Consequently,  she decided to do so and she sailed up the river Rhine to the Alps. They crossed the Alps and paid a visit to the Pope. He had the vision that she and her party would encounter difficulties and so he blessed them. Indeed, going  back to Cologne they were involved in a battle with the Huns and were captured. They refused to share their vicious way of life and preferred death instead. In one of the following photos you see a sculpture of Ursula holding a golden arrow in her hand. She was killed by a  shot with bow and arrow.

About 400 AD Clematius, a citizen of Cologne, rebuilt a chapel, which stood at the place where Ursula and her virgins had died. The Western part of the church was finished at 1135 , the tower in the 13th century (renewed in the 15th century in Romanesque style). In the Golden Chamber  (Southern transept) all walls and niches for relics are covered by human bones. They are ornamentally assembled to inscriptions and symbols. The most important piece in the Golden Chamber is the Aetherius-shrine. According the legend Aetherius was bridegroom of St. Ursula.