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Cologne, Köln in German, is the largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth most populous in Germany, with over a million people. It lies mainly on the left bank of the Rhine, about 35 kilometres south-east of Düsseldorf and 22 kilometres north-west of Bonn.
The Romans founded Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium here in AD 50, and in the Middle Ages its merchants grew rich on the Rhine trade. Bombing in the Second World War destroyed 61 percent of the built-up area, and the rebuilding of its Romanesque churches lasted until the 1990s. Eau de Cologne has been made here since 1709.
Visitors start at the cathedral, a World Heritage Site, then walk through the Old Town to the City Hall and the Romanesque churches, see Museum Ludwig and the Chocolate Museum, and cross the Hohenzollern Bridge. Before Lent the carnival takes over the streets.
Cologne Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, was begun in 1248, halted around 1560 and completed to its medieval plan in 1880. Its twin spires rise 157 metres, it was built to house the golden Shrine of the Three Kings, and it has been a World Heritage Site since 1996.
Great St. Martin Church is a Romanesque church in the Old Town whose foundations of about 960 rest on Roman remains on what was then an island in the Rhine. Its landmark tower and trefoil east end were built from 1150 to 1250, and after heavy war damage its restoration ended in 1985.
St. Maria im Kapitol was built from 1040 to 1065 on the site of a Roman temple to the Capitoline Triad, and with 4,000 square metres inside it is the largest of the twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne. It was modelled on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and has three apses.
St. Gereon's Basilica keeps at its core an oval Roman building from between 350 and 365, one of the oldest surviving sacred buildings in Germany. It is first named as a church in 612, and from 1219 to 1227 the old core was raised into a decagon with Gothic galleries and a central dome.
Museum Ludwig, near the cathedral, grew from 350 modern works given in 1976 by the chocolate maker Peter Ludwig. Its building of 1986 by Peter Busmann and Godfrid Haberer also holds the Kölner Philharmonie, and the collection has Pop Art and one of the largest Picasso holdings in Europe.
The Wallraf–Richartz Museum began with the medieval art that Ferdinand Franz Wallraf left to Cologne in 1824 and opened in 1861 in a building given by Johann Heinrich Richartz. Its present home by Oswald Mathias Ungers dates from 2001 and shows art up to the early 20th century.
The Imhoff Chocolate Museum was opened on 31 October 1993 by the chocolate maker Hans Imhoff on the Rheinauhafen peninsula. It traces chocolate from the Olmecs, Maya and Aztecs to modern production, draws about 650,000 visitors a year and receives no public subsidy at all.
The Cologne Zoological Garden was founded in 1860 by local citizens and is the third oldest zoo in Germany, with over 10,000 animals of more than 850 species on 20 hectares. Its early buildings included an elephant house like a Moorish temple, and it has an aquarium.
The Hohenzollern Bridge crosses the Rhine between the main station and Deutz; it was built from 1907 to 1911 and opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 22 May 1911. Destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt for trains and walkers only, it carries more than 1,200 trains a day, the most in Germany.
Cologne City Hall, between Rathausplatz and Alter Markt, is the oldest city hall in Germany, with some 900 years of documented history on the site of the Roman praetorium. It joins a 14th-century hall, a 15th-century Gothic tower and a 16th-century Renaissance loggia.
The Rheinauhafen is a commercial harbour of the 1880s on the Rhine south of the Old Town, rebuilt from 2002 as a quarter of offices, homes, culture and a marina. Its landmarks are the old Siebengebirge warehouses and the three Kranhaus towers shaped like the old harbour cranes.
The Cologne Carnival opens its fifth season at 11 minutes past 11 on 11 November and returns after Epiphany, with street carnival from Fat Thursday to Ash Wednesday. On Rose Monday the carnival prince leads the parade, and 330 tons of sweets are thrown to the crowds each year.
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