Stainless steel for a revered church

摘要

Every one of the estimated 9 million people who visit Cologne Cathedral every year is overcome by a feeling of amazement at the sheer unending mountain of stone that appears to be trying to virtually touch the sky. Admittedly humanity has rubbed throughout the ages at what poet Heinrich Heine described in his "Staenkerreimen" ("Moaning Rhymes") as a "Bastille of the spirit." He did not like the cathedral. To him, it was a "colossal companion... it towers devilishly black / that is Cologne Cathedral." Indeed, the black aspect of its exterior has not changed, nor has the fact that the cathedral, from an architectural point of view, is and will remain a building site. Who would know this better than Barbara Schock-Werner, the first woman to work in the outstanding office of cathedral master builder since Jan. 1, 1999?