St. Maria im Kapitol in Cologne was built between 1040 and 1065 on the foundations of a first-century Roman temple to the Capitoline Triad. Archbishop Hermann II of Cologne and his sister Ida, abbess of the convent, started the new church. The article calls it the largest Romanesque church in Cologne and one of the city's Twelve Romanesque Churches.
The cross basilica has a trefoil east end of three apses, modeled on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It measures about 328 feet (100 meters) long and 131 feet (40 meters) wide. The nave has double arcades modeled on the Palatine Chapel in Aachen. The wooden doors, made around 1065, carry 26 reliefs of scenes from Jesus's life.
World War II damaged it heavily. The western part was usable by 1956, and the eastern part reopened in 1984.
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