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According to the Cologne Cathedral's English website (now decimated to a single page):

Service hours Masses at Cologne Cathedral are held at the following times: Working days (Monday to Saturday): Mass: 6.30 a.m., 7.15 a.m., 8.00 a.m., 9.00 a.m., and 6.30 p.m. Devotion: Monday to Friday, 6.00 p.m.

Sundays: Mass: 7.00 a.m., 8.30 a.m., 10.00 a.m., 12 midday, 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. Divine Office: 6.00 p.m.

Please consult also our up-to-date Mass times page.

I want to attend such an event, for secular and artistic reasons only (I am not a Christian). I want to consult the best time to attend such an event (e.g. maybe the "Divine Office" is the longest and most impressive). Do all the masses include an organ and a choir?

What is the best time to visit a mass in Cologne Cathedral to get the most out of the artistic experience? Any tip regarding experiencing a mass (specifically one in Cologne Cathedral) will be welcomed.

I am not a Christian, so I have no clue which mass or service is being considered more important or festive, so names like "high mass", "devotion" and "divine office" are meaningless to me.

One last note: to make "impressive" less prone to opinion-based interpretation I would define a mass as impressive if it is long enough and includes a choir and a pipe organ. Also, a mass is more impressive if it is held in the main nave and choir, not in a side chapel.

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    They will have the information whether it is a mass with or without music. There might be an evensong or something like that which is music but without the mass.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jul 18 at 18:23
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    You need to look at the up to date Mass Times page. As far as I can see, in July/August the services are at different hours, and there is a High (Capitular) Mass is at 9am at the crossing altar. I think that is the one most likely to have music/ceremonial.
    – erstwhile editor
    Commented Jul 19 at 7:22
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    (Note: I'm not familiar with this specific church) I think that especially when there are several masses per day, they will not all be very impressive. E.g. attendance at 6am will be low, and I wouldn't expect a choir at that time. Having said that, I think that your best bet would be a day on which there is a Catholic celebration, say, Christmas or Easter. Failing that, go on a Sunday at 10, which I think is the most common time for people to go to church. On the 1st Sunday of the month at 10, there's a mass in Latin, which arguably can be called impressive
    – Berend
    Commented Jul 19 at 10:20
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    @DavidRecallsMonica This is answerable. OP has rather sensibly defined "impressive" as "has the most organ and choral music", and people in the comments are providing cultural clues about how to identify such masses which may be obvious to some people but which are not obvious to me, as a non-German, non-Christian person. If these clues could be compiled into enough of a guide to interpret the Church's webpage into finding the most musical mass, that would be a clear an objective answer.
    – mlc
    Commented Jul 21 at 16:35
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    If you want to hear the organ, there are free concerts in the summer, Tuesdays 8pm: koelner-dommusik.de/orgeln/orgelfeierstunden
    – Marianne013
    Commented Jul 21 at 19:06

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The German webpages are not very forthcoming about the content of the individual services either. However, I note that the Sunday 10:00 Hochamt (also referred to as Kapitalsamt/Pontifikalsamt depending on who is leading the service) is broadcast on the cathedral's broadcast page (domradio.de). None of the others are, hence I would assume this is the main service. This is very much in line with my, albeit somewhat limited, experiences with other catholic churches in Germany.

At least on this (21 July 2024) particular Sunday evening the recording of this Sunday morning's service is still available on the webpage, you could have a look to see if this fulfils your criteria.

As I noted in a comment, if you are interested in hearing the organ, there are free concerts during the summer, Tuesday's at 8:00 pm, the keyword to google is "Orgelfeierstunden". For 2024, these run until the end of August.

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  • Thank you. I am planning to visit around September 2024. I hope there are organ concerts also then.
    – Triceratops
    Commented Jul 22 at 14:01
  • I talked with the Cologne Tourism Office, and they recommended the 12:00 midday mass, saying it is being held in the nave, and on Sundays is also attended by the Bishop. Can you comment on that?
    – Triceratops
    Commented Jul 24 at 15:07

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