Cologne Cathedral, one of Germany's best-known landmarks, to charge tourists for admission
ABC News
Cologne Cathedral, a famous German landmark and popular tourist draw, will start charging an admission fee to visitors as church officials struggle with rising maintenance costs
BERLIN -- Cologne Cathedral, a famous German landmark and popular tourist draw, will start charging an admission fee to visitors as church officials struggle with rising maintenance costs.
The Catholic cathedral's chapter announced Thursday that it will start charging the fee in the second half of this year, but didn't specify how high it will be.
The twin-spired Catholic cathedral towers over Cologne's main railway station, next to the Rhine River, and dominates the city skyline. Construction of the Gothic cathedral began in 1248 and was completed in 1880. It was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1996.
The cathedral gets around 6 million visitors per year.
Inflation and rising personnel costs have led to a constant increase in the price of the upkeep of the building, the cathedral chapter said. The cathedral plans spending this year of around 16 million euros ($18.6 million).
Nepal is counting votes after its first national election since a violent youth uprising toppled the government
Japan's Foreign Ministry says a second Japanese national has been detained in Iran and requested the early release of both people
Conservative Anglican leaders have overhauled Gafcon’s leadership and signal a sharper break from the historic Anglican Communion
Cologne Cathedral, a famous German landmark and popular tourist draw, will start charging an admission fee to visitors as church officials struggle with rising maintenance costs
Families of Kenyan recruits duped with promises of work in Russia who ended up on the front lines of the fighting in Ukraine are petitioning the country’s parliament to ban the recruitment of Kenyans for Moscow’s war
For years, Iran’s theocratic government warned it would blanket the Middle East with missile and drone fire if it felt its existence was threatened
Canadian and Australian prime ministers have called for a de-escalation of the Iran war but added the Iranians must never gain a nuclear weapon
China has set an economic growth target of 4.5% to 5% for this year, a slight decrease in the face of a prolonged property slump and other headwinds and global uncertainty
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected his new destroyer for two straight days ahead of its commissioning and observed a test of cruise missiles fired from the warship, vowing to accelerate the nuclear-armament of his navy, state media said Thursday
Nahuel Gallo, an Argentine military police officer, is urging the international community to push Venezuela to free 24 foreigners still in detention
Ten horses — five black, five white — entered the sand ring first
Police in Puerto Rico say an armed suspect flung open the door of an ambulance and fatally shot a man who was being treated by medics for bullet wounds he received during a shooting earlier in the U.S. territory’s capital
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hosted Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó for talks in Moscow