Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral

This decision has been controversially discussed and criticised by parts of the public on several occasions, although the sculptures may only be accessed by permission within bespoke guided tours.

Two longitudinal rows of them are installed each on the northern and southern side of the cathedral choir, just in front of the chancel screens.

[5] Some of the 500 figures and ornaments were made by craftsmen from the Paris area or the Lorraine, who were specialised in stone masonry and/or wood carving.

[6] The Judensau and the other two wood carvings were probably made by a local man due to their unelaborate design and the unusual motif.

[8][9] The quatrefoil on the right hand side shows two Jews, who empty a tub, out of which a slaughtered pig and three piglets fall.

The Jew on the right hand side leads a young boy to the scene, who can be distinguished as Christian because of a hint of a halo.

[14] The Israeli art historian Isaiah Shachar interprets the scene on the right hand side, as if the Jews throw away the pork meat and kidnap a Christian child to be eaten.

On the back of the Shrine of the Three Kings (1190–1225) is a scene, which shows the flagellation of Jesus Christ by two henchmen with Jewish hats.

[12] In 2005, the Munich-based artists Wolfram P. Kastner and Günter Wangerin requested emphatically to remove the Judensau, or at least put up a sign with an explanation.

In addition, they wanted two pieces of stone masonry approximately 50 metres (160 ft) tall, depicting two swastikas, to be removed.

Kastner made repeated requests for their removal and staged acts of protest against the Christian church.

In 2008, the cathedral workshop and the Zentral-Dombau-Verein zu Köln dedicated a complete issue of the Kölner Domblatt to this topic and the results of the conference.