19th Century cathedral is razed to the ground by energy company

A 19th century church in Germany was demolished this week to make way for coal mining.

St Lambertus Cathedral – a church known by locals as Immerather Dom – in Immerath, a tiny farming village northwest of Cologne, was razed to the ground on Tuesday.

The double-spired church, thought to have been built between 1880 and 1890, was torn down in the latest step in energy company RWE’s demolition of the entire village in a bid to expand its access to the region’s lignite supply.

The church held its last Mass Service in October 2013, before being deconsecrated, according to Die Zeit.

But Greenpeace activists had been protesting against its demolition, brandishing banners that said #ENDCOAL.

The energy company has built a new village seven miles away – where Immerath’s hospital has been relocated and its houses torn down and moved.

Even the village cemetery’s graves were dug up and relocated to the new village.