The mysterious trip of the Three Kings to Cologne

The mysterious trip of the Three Kings to Cologne

Köln, Deutschland - Vienna, 05.01.2025 (Cape) - On January 6th we celebrate the festival of the Three Kings, which is inseparable from the Christmas story. In the Gospel of Matthew, these mysterious figures are only mentioned as a "magician from the East", but their development is based on a deep cultural and religious interdependency, which goes back to ancient times. The church teacher Origenes recognized the three number of wise men and connected them with the three precious gifts in the third century: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Historically, the names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar from the people from the people have their origin, which they represent as kings of different parts of the world.

The history of the relics of the Three Kings, which were brought to Cologne in 1164, is also important. Cologne Archbishop Rainald von Dassel captured the bones during a war trip in Milan, which made Cologne one of the most important pilgrimage centers in the Middle Ages. The artistically outstanding shrine, kept directly in the cathedral in Cologne, was manufactured by Nikolaus von Verdun and other masters between 1190 and 1220. This magnificent shrine is not only an important reliquary, but also a masterpiece of medieval goldsmithing, which is decorated with noble materials and complex art-historical programs, as the Cologne Dom reported.

The authenticity of the relics in doubt

But the story also contains doubts: historians question the authenticity of the relics, since in early sources there are no indications of the veneration of the three kings. These concerns are expressed by experts such as the Munich historian Ralf Lützelschwab. The idea that the relics are a clever staging of the demonstration of power by Barbarossa and Rainald von Dassel could question the centuries of veneration. Despite these critical perspectives, the Catholic Church celebrates the Epiphany Festival as a high festival of the appearance of the Lord, which is a public holiday in some German federal states. In addition, the Epiphany Festival is used to support auxiliary projects that have collected over 540 million euros since the beginning of the star singing campaign, to help people in need, such as reported .