Cutters of the Stone

T he towering Cologne Cathedral is the most ambitious construction project ever planned and executed within Germany. It's twin towers rise 700 feet in the air, dominating the city of Cologne and a large stretch of the Rhine Valley. Begun in 1248, the cathedral wasn't finished until the 19th century, in a wave of German romanticism. Work on the cathedral, however, never really ends. To keep a highly skilled supply of stonemasons - a dying breed in other parts of the world - the catheral mainstains a centuries-old trade school, where students study skills honed and passed down from generation to generation.

Anton Meid oversees the cathedral's stonemason's shop, which began in 1248. Meid, a 50-year-old man with square hands and an expressive face, looks for apprentices with a unique combination of attributes. They must be from a good family, and be young and healthy. About one hundred students apply annually to become apprentices at the Cathedral. Four are accepted during an average three-year period. Meid also looks for a lack of education - kids who haven't been to high school. "When I was 14 years old and started as an apprentice, I asked 'Where's the work?' Now kids come when they're 17, and they want to question everything. In high school they learn to discuss. That's what they're good at."