12 euros for Cologne Cathedral: Where churches in Europe still charge admission

In Germany:

12 euros entrance fee for tourist visits: That’s what those responsible decided for Cologne Cathedral on Tuesday. Unlike the Rhenish cathedral Most large Catholic churches in Germany continue to rely on free access. As research by the portal katholisch.de shows, entrance fees to the cathedrals in Mainz, Munich, Dresden and Speyer are not an issue.

Access to the Bavarian Wieskirche, which is a world cultural heritage site, is also free. It sounds different in the diocese of Aachen: A spokeswoman for the Aachen Cathedral does not rule out the introduction of entrance fees in the future.

Both Protestant churches it looks partly different. A sightseeing ticket in the Berlin Cathedral starts at 15 euros; the ticket is valid for one year. Since mid-May, adults have had to pay five euros in the Protestant Church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg’s old town. Albrecht Dürer was baptized in the church, which is more than 700 years old.

According to media reports, the neighboring community of the Lorenz Church is also thinking about it. There is the so-called Angel Greeting, a famous work of art by Veit Stoss from 1517/18. Other Protestant churches such as Sankt Jakob in Rothenburg ob der Tauber with the well-known Holy Blood Altar by the Würzburg carver Tilman Riemenschneider have been charging such a fee for a long time.

However, Bavaria’s Evangelical Lutheran Church stated that it was not planning nationwide admission for churches; Such models would only be an option – if at all – for a few churches that are particularly heavily visited by touristswhere use and effort are particularly high.

In Austria:

Large sights such as St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna require an entrance fee. The ticket for the St. Stephen’s Cathedral – 29.00 euros for adults – includes the independent tour of the cathedral with a digital audio guide for the smartphone, the independent tour of the south and north towers, participation in a public tour of the catacombs and the tour of the cathedral museum.

In England:

Admission is charged in many historic churches in England. This is what an adult ticket costs for them Saint Paul’s-Cathedral in London it is 27 pounds (31 euros), for Westminster Abbey it is 31 pounds (35 euros).

In France:

Most major cathedrals like Our Lady or Sacred Heart in Paris, Reims and Chartres are accessible free of charge. Often there is only a fee for climbing the tower or the crypt.

In Italy:

In Italy, churches can often be visited without paying a fee. This applies to both St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome as well as for the cathedrals of Florence and Naples. Some famous places of worship such as the Milan Cathedral or St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice charge admission.

In Spain:

In Spain, entry is the rule. A famous example is the Holy Family in Barcelona (tickets from 26 euros). Fees are also charged in many other cathedrals, such as in Seville or Toledo. The Cathedral of Palma in Mallorca charges an entrance fee of ten euros.

In Turkey:

Visits to important places of worship in Istanbul are treated twice as unequally: while visiting the blue mosque is free regardless of religious affiliation, visiting the one that has been used as a mosque again since summer 2020 is Hagia Sophia – built as a church in the 6th century and the largest Orthodox cathedral for almost a thousand years – expensive for non-Muslims.

An entry ticket currently costs 25 euros. Muslim prayer is possible without a ticket. A similar approach occurs to visitors to the Chora Church in Istanbul. After a long renovation, it has also been an active mosque since May 2024 and non-Muslims have to pay 20 euros to visit. (KNA)