BENEATH ST SEVERIN'S CHURCH

Alongside the Roman long-distance road was among the most desirable burial places in CCAA. In the 4th century, the funerary monuments of wealthy families were erected in the area of the later St Severin's Church. One of these chamber graves lies right in the central nave of today's church and had once been the original building of the medieval church. In the 5th century, the grave chamber was extended. Cologne's Christians buried their dead in the church and its surroundings. Early research linked this building with the cult of Saint Severin, the third bishop of Cologne. Later, the early Christian church was again extended several times. In the early Middle Ages, too, Romans and Franks were buried there, including members of the city's elite. Roman and early medieval graves as well as the walls of the precursor buildings of the church of the High Middle Ages can be seen under the present church.