For all the WW2 destruction Koeln has suffered, and the pitched tank battle fought in front of it in March 1945, incredibly, most of the stained glass has survived. These three window, from the central chapel of the ambulatory, features the oldest stained glass in the Cathedral, dating to 1260 (center panel) and two (left and right) from the following hundred years.
Many panels in the ambulatory feature the layout of the two side panels: a busy architectural arrangement in the lowest 1/3 of the panel, usually with figures; and a geometric all-over pattern in the upper 2/3’s. In this, they look like many South East Indian sarongs: it is apparently one good solution to the decorative problem presented by long, vertical shapes. (Unrelated systems presented with identical problem evolve similar solutions).
The geometric patterns of the stained glass windows have a mesmerising effect on a mind schooled in admiring the geometric intricacies of Javanese and Burmese sarongs, sending it on a long spell of mindless staring.
The aesthetic experience — let’s call it rapture — is a lot like riding a bicycle, one gets better at it with practice.
Aesthetes slide into their pleasure the way experienced monks slide into no-mind meditation.
Oltre Mare 