St. Martin’s Church is one of the 12 great Romanesque churches of the city. The legend follows the missionaries Viro and Plechelmus, who came to the Rhine River to establish monasteries and churches, and gain a greater Christian following, in the 8th century. The story goes that the foundations upon which Great St. Martin Church was built were of the missionaries own making, having built their own place of worship a century before. However, other sources support the idea that the church was founded by Βruno the Great, Cologne’s Archbishop from 953 to 965 , to honor Martin of Tours, also known as Martin the Merciful. The engrossing building that is visible today is based on an entirely new church, built after a fire in 1150 which destroyed most of the city The new building went through a number of alterations over the coming centuries, though it’s always kept its original structure, typified by its triple-apse formation to make the sign of the cross. The church was greatly damaged in World War II, with restoration work starting right after its end.