Just Watching Is Overwhelming... Foreign Climbers Attempting to Ascend Cologne Cathedral

Six French Men and One Belgian Woman Apprehended
Identities and Motives Withheld Under Privacy Laws

Cologne Cathedral. Pexels

Climbers who attempted to illegally scale the Cologne Cathedral, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in Germany, were apprehended by German police.

On the 13th (local time), the AP reported that Cologne police detained five French men and one Belgian woman who tried to climb the cathedral.

The police stated that a private security guard at the church spotted the young climbers wearing headlamps on surveillance cameras late at night. Subsequently, police equipped with riot gear surrounded the cathedral, and a helicopter circled above the northern dome, tightening the perimeter.

The authorities revealed that the men were between 18 and 27 years old, and the woman was 26, but did not disclose their identities due to German privacy laws. Items confiscated from them included cameras, mobile phones, lock picks, and climbing equipment that appeared to have been damaged during the building search.

Meanwhile, Cologne Cathedral is a major tourist attraction in Germany and one of the oldest and most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in Europe. Construction began in 1248 and was completed in 1880 in the Gothic style. In 1996, it was recognized as a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.