Old St. Alban

Old St. Alban is a roofless brick shell, its interior filled with nothing but gravel and the sky. This is the last ruin from the nineteen forty-three bombing of Cologne left in its destroyed state. Inside the nave stands the Mourning Parents, a sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz. Her own son died in the First World War, and she carved these figures to honor all children lost to conflict. The wind blows through the empty window frames, cooling the space where the altar once stood.