The Archbishop of Cologne Anno II (1056-1075) was chased out of the city by an angry mob after incurring the wrath of the merchant class. In neighboring Deutz, the prince of the church and the empire ponders revenge and gathers a large army to return to Cologne.

#47 Anno‘s Revenge – The Archbishop strikes back 1074 AD – The History of Cologne

The Archbishop of Cologne Anno II (1056-1075) was chased out of the city by an angry mob after incurring the wrath of the merchant class. In neighboring Neuss, the prince of the church and the empire ponders revenge and gathers a large army to return to Cologne.

St. George in Cologne

St. George, Anno’s own church foundation, which was in 1074 AD still just outside the city wall and at that time was not yet within the walled city. That would not happen until 40 years later, in 1106 AD.

The Shrine of Anno from 1183 by Nikolaus of Verdun in St. Servatius in Siegburg

Nowadays you can see the Anno shrine in Siegburg in the parish church of St. Servatius. There is a small but really fine and well-equipped treasury. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. By the way, the entrance is free, but donations are of course welcome. I had in any case in the summer vacations there a great spontaneous private tour, because the nice supervisor there really explained everything to me. That was really great. Thanks again and sorry I forgot your name. 

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How the Shrine used to look like

Unfortunately, the Anno shrine is no longer in very good condition. In the course of secularization much of the figural decoration was stolen, fortunately there is a detailed drawing there on site, which showed how the shrine once looked in its full glory. 

The new Anno Shrine of 2021 in the Abbey Church of Siegburg

If you disagree here, ok. But I was blown away when I saw what American artist Brody Neuenschwander had created. When you enter the abbey church, and immediately go to the right through a passageway, you enter an almost dark room. In the center is Anno’s new shrine. At first glance in the form of a transparent house. When I stepped closer, I saw that the outer shell of the house simply times an entire biography in text form. A house of letters. In the middle of this letter house floats a suspended golden box, in which the bones of Anno are inside. The shrine stands, as I said, in a dark room. From the ceiling, a concentrated golden light falls directly into the center of this shrine house. Because of the metal surface, this causes the light to shine faintly but clearly through the dark room. 

Details of the new Anno Shrine

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The shrine consists of letters and words describing Anno’s biography.