The completion of Germany's largest cathedral is…

The completion of Germany's largest cathedral is celebrated as a national event on August 14, 1880, six hundred and thirty-two years after construction had begun.

The celebration is attended by Emperor Wilhelm I.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral had commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished.

Work had restarted in 1842 and is completed, to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but utilizing more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders, in 1880.

The nave has been completed and the towers added; the bells were installed in the 1870s.

It is one hundred and forty-four point five meters (four hundred and seventy-four feet) long, eighty-six point five meters (two hundred and eighty-four feet) wide and its towers are approximately one hundred anf fifty-seven meter (five hundred and fifteen feet) tall.

The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest facade of any church in the world.

The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.