TikTok trends come and go with astounding speed. However, in the last year the frenetic short-form video app has minted at least one lasting star. I speak, of course, of Cologne Cathedral.

That fun fact comes via journalist Ryan Broderick, who tracks these things in his Garbage Day newsletter. According to the data he collects, Cologne Cathedral has been such a reliable source of viral posts that it can be called, with only a little hyperbole, one of “TikTok’s biggest stars.” What’s up with that?

Well, it’s one of Europe’s top tourist attractions, a World Heritage site, and a great photo op (see the top photo here), so of course it gets a lot of attention. And yet it does seem to have achieved some kind of unique status among the world’s wonders in the TikTok content-o-verse.

In July, the single most-liked post on the app—now sitting at more than 30 million likes and 178 million views—was by one @whosthatbitxh, who posted herself hammily gaping at the building’s spectacular facade. More recently, fifth place in TikTok’s September 2024 most-liked rankings was a post on Cologne Cathedral from train-pass purveyor @trainpal, racking up another 17.3 million likes and 125 million views. And just last week, one @cyberproxy posted yet another viral clip from in front of the Cathedral with the text “imagine getting married here.” It already has 6.7 million likes and 30 million views.

All the above clips, as well as many others featuring the landmark, use a slowed-down version of a song by the German metal band Rammstein in which an ethereal women’s choir builds to a burst of guttural hard rock. “The cologne cathedral owns this song,” reads a top comment on one post. “I heard the music and already knew what I’m gonna see,” goes another. “Does this music automatically play when you visit there because I’ve never seen it without the music,” reads a third.

TikTokers have applied the Rammstein snippet to other cathedrals and monuments. In fact, @whosthatbitxh herself did so with Big Ben—to greatly diminished returns. “Cologne cathedral is better for this sound,” says one comment on that post. To which @whosthatbitxh herself replies, “oh 100% agree.”

Because of the arbitrary nature of TikTok, where posts just get plucked by the algorithm for mega-exposure with minimal human intervention, it’s hard to find any meaning. But looking over the comments, some themes do stand out.

One is a genuine awe for the majesty and craft of Gothic architecture, of which Cologne Cathedral is an outstanding example, after all. There are lots of comments to the effect that architects should still make buildings that look like this—and lots of hilariously annoying replies noting that Cologne Cathedral took centuries to build. (As far as I can tell, contemporary artist Gerhard Richter’s monumental stained-glass window for the Cathedral gets no love.)

Part of me wants to say that the Cathedral’s aura of history and sacredness must feel refreshing in the frenetic TikTok world, and therefore have some extra pull. However, that Rammstein audio is epically goofy and theatrical, so maybe not really.

Another genre of comment seems very impressed that the Cologne Cathedral is a real building that looks a lot like various fantasy stuff that was a pastiche of it in the first place. Lots of comments say that it looks like something from the Dark Souls video games or Count Dracula’s castle or a supervillain’s lair. There are also lots of people with a distinct Goth sensibility who are Cathedral-posting. Finally, Broderick speculates that Cologne Cathedral content likely gets an extra boost around “spooky season.”

And there totally could be a lot more feeding into the trend. I will humbly say it remains mysterious to me. If you’ve got a better theory, let me know and I will shout it out.

In any case, hats off to Cologne Cathedral. You’ve really put in the hours to earn that fame!