Cologne Cathedral - the third testing site in the framework of VIDRIO eu programme

Cologne Cathedral has world-wide one of the largest amount of stained glass existing in its original place. The gothic construction, founded in 1248, was not completed before 1880. Due to this, the stained glass windows date from very different periods, beginning in the late 13 t h century up to the recent past. According to the variety of age, the deterioation problems differ consideribly. All over the centuries the windows have been maintained and repaired. The first conservation campaign in a today's understanding started as early as 1805. The first protective glazing at Cologne Cathedral was installed in 1978. Meanwhile the majority of the windows are protected in this way. As gothic architecture requires specially adjusted technical solutions, a variety of different constructions types have been realised over the years. The testing site for VIDRIO was a window from around 1300 with a recently constructed protective glazing, specially adopted to the fragile and delicate gothic masonry in this part of the building.