St. Pantaleon

The impressive church, in the south west of the inner city, still has extensive parts of the original building. It is one of the oldest sacral buildings in Cologne.

The monumental church of St. Pantaleon originated at the middle of the 10th century with the founding of a Benedictine abbey by the Archbishop Bruno. His niece by marriage, the Byzantine Theophanu, continued building after Bruno’s death in 965. Her interest in the church most certainly had family reasons, but especially the Patrocinium of the Holy Pantaleon played a decisive role, because this saint came from Theophanu's homeland. Following her death she was buried in St. Pantaleon. Her mortal remains rest there today in a modern marble sarcophagus.

A peculiarity of St. Pantaleon is the baroque furnishings in the chancel. In all other comparable churches in Cologne this was removed in the course of the 19th century. Furthermore one of the two Lettners still existing in Cologne today can be found here. This Lettner, unfortunately only the half of which is remaining, indicates late Gothic forms and is 20 years older that the one in St. Maria in the Capitol. The relic shrines of Saint Albinus and Saint Maurinus put on the crossing, are also remarkable and date back to the late 12th century.