Cologne Cathedral Window

Originally, in 1863, windows with the depiction of secular and Christian rulers made by the Royal Stained Glass Institute in Berlin-Charlottenburg had been installed, donated by the Kingdom of Prussia.

The windows were destroyed in World War II and replaced in 1948 by a simple ornamental glazing by Wilhelm Teuwen [de], that was in need of restoration.

The original designs from the 19th century were, like the stained glass windows themselves, destroyed in World War II and no longer available.

It was planned to make a memorial to the German martyrs of the twentieth century, such as Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe, and to commemorate the Holocaust.

At a few spots Richter made corrections to the distribution, for example where the arrangement of the pixel was suggestive of meaning, for example in the lower part the number "1".

"In seiner überwältigenden Farbenfülle ist es selbst eine Symphonie des Lichts, in der alle Farben des Doms erklingen", "In its overwhelming abundance of colours, it is itself a symphony of light in which all the colours of the cathedral ring out" concluded Josef Sauerborn, artist pastor of the Cologne diocese, in his sermon at the festival service on the occasion of the unveiling in August 2007.

[9] "Dieses Fenster stellt nichts Religiöses dar" "This window does not represent anything religious", explained provost Norbert Feldhoff [de] in 2006, "but a challenge to seeing; it invites silence, it creates a light shimmering with colours, it animates, inspirits, calls for meditation and creates a flair that opens for the religious".