Zuidelijk toegangsportaal van de Dom van Keulen c. 1860 - 1880

Curator: Well, if that isn't a marvel in monochrome! This is a collotype print from somewhere between 1860 and 1880 by František Fridrich, showing the South Portal of the Cologne Cathedral. A classic cityscape, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Monumental is the word that leaps to mind. The sheer verticality—it makes you feel utterly minuscule. There’s a certain drama in the almost-sepia tones; a real sense of history, like looking back through a well-loved photograph album. Curator: Absolutely. Fridrich’s choice of collotype lends a soft, almost painterly quality to the print, which is interesting when considering how precisely architectural photography usually aims to document structures. He’s capturing light and texture as much as stone. The repetition and symmetry of the portal… typical neo-classicism in many regards. Editor: Yes, but observe how the photographic medium renders the intricate carvings—almost dizzying detail, line after line receding. Also consider the building material—I suspect we are seeing local trachyte stone and basalt lava stone being implemented here. Do you think the flatness of the print emphasizes that flatness we see across the façade? Curator: Precisely, it’s flattened space adding emphasis to the facade’s ornament. What’s curious is how alive the cathedral seems, despite being inanimate stone. Almost like an organism. What a thought— a breathing building made from rock! Editor: Or perhaps consider this a frozen performance. The image allows us a glimpse back to its creation—light, exposure, printing all combined and here for us, static in a time we will never visit physically. I do get the sense of arrested action. Curator: So well put! Considering that Fridrich might’ve conceived it, and with your interpretation, now I get an inkling of movement in it all! Editor: Ultimately, for me, it evokes that strange paradox: how something so solid and enduring, is still captured as but a fragile and fleeting memory. Thank you, for illuminating that it is breathing too. Curator: Likewise—and with such intricate breath.