What is the difference between the Palace Museum and Cologne Cathedral?

There are significant differences between the Forbidden City and Cologne Cathedral in many ways.

1. Architectural style: The Forbidden City adopts a symmetrical royal architectural style, and uses a lot of colors symbolizing the royal family, such as red and yellow. The overall momentum is magnificent and full of royal atmosphere. Cologne Cathedral, on the other hand, adopts Gothic architectural style, with towering spires and meticulous carving, presenting a lofty and mysterious aesthetic feeling.

2. Building materials: The Forbidden City mainly uses wood and masonry as building materials, taking into account the traditional culture of China that attaches importance to the influence of wood structure. Cologne Cathedral, on the other hand, is mainly brick-concrete structure, which is very common in European Gothic architecture.

3. Architectural function: As the royal palace of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Forbidden City is mainly used as a place for emperors to live and handle government affairs. As a Christian church, the main function of Cologne Cathedral is to provide religious activities for believers, such as prayer and mass.

Generally speaking, although the two buildings have their unique aesthetic and historical values, they are obviously different in design, materials and functions.