St. Gereon

St. Gereon’s Basilica is distinguished by its decagonal nave, a ten-sided central space capped by a soaring dome that rises thirty-four meters above the floor. This structure sits upon the foundations of a fourth-century Roman memorial built over the grave of Gereon, a soldier martyred during the Diocletianic Persecution. While the site has roots in late antiquity, the current church took shape over a long period from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, incorporating these ancient walls into its medieval design.