• Journal of architectural history
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.7-16
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• 2015

This article deals with a proportional analysis of Cologne Cathedral with regard to the medieval tradition of geometry and figurate numbers that were commonly used in the medieval period. It first outlines symbolic and geometric notions of the geometry and numbers during the medieval period, and then, interprets the proportional design of the plan and section of the cathedral in analogy with the notion. It concludes that the proportional design of the cathedral was not quite arbitrary but carefully designed for the systematic and symbolic quality of the medieval aesthetic tradition.