Cologne’s famed Gothic cathedral to introduce admission fee

Cologne’s most-visited attraction, its UNESCO-listed Gothic cathedral, is set to introduce an admission fee later this year.

Church officials from Cologne Cathedral said in an announcement on 5 March that the charge was being added because of rising maintenance costs.

The Catholic cathedral’s chapter said it will start charging tourists in the second half of this year, but did not specify how high the admission fee would 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 six 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 to spend around €16 million this year alone.

At the same time, reserves that have been used to plug financing gaps in recent years have largely dried up, in part because fee-paying visits to the cathedral’s towers and treasury could not take place for long periods during the pandemic.

Church officials have made savings, for instance, by not replacing workers who leave the cathedral architect’s office, but they said the measures taken so far can not fix the problem in the long term.

People entering the cathedral to attend services and for prayer in some areas will be exempted from the new admission fee. The cathedral’s dean, Guido Assmann, said tourists account for about 99% of visitors, the German news agency dpa reported.

Church fees across Europe

While charging admission fees for tourists is common across Europe, typically those visiting for mass or individual prayer are exempt from paying.

Barcelona’s Sagrada Família, which is still under construction, charges €26 for general admission. According to the latest available report from 2024, around 52% of fees collected is used for construction costs, with another 30% on management fees.

In 2024, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati proposed an entrance fee to Notre-Dame, with the money raised set to be used for the maintenance of churches across the country, but this was never approved.

In Italy, several famous churches including St. Peter’s Basilica and Florence Cathedral are free to visit, but others including the cathedrals in Milan and Siena charge a fee.