Historic Cities · Germany
Cologne through the ages
Cologne is the fourth-most populous city of Germany and the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.
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Cologne in AD 150
Roman Cologne
This is Colonia at the height of its Roman prosperity as the capital of Germania Inferior, ringed by a high stone wall and served by the long Eifel aqueduct. The walk follows the riverfront, the forum and the governor’s praetorium along the eastern wall, passes domestic houses with polychrome mosaics and the busy river port, and reaches the naval fort road to the Rhine fleet.
Low tiled roofs and packed clay yards fill the island city, its skyline punctuated by the eight-metre stone wall and regular watchtowers, the columned lines of the forum, and the broad riverside port. Pale plastered houses, colonnaded shops and painted wooden façades face tight grid streets; the governor’s praetorium runs along the eastern wall in dressed trachyte, while a distant stone aqueduct channel crosses the plain from the Eifel.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Rhine Approach → Oppidum Ubiorum → Northern Gate (CCAA) → Cardo Maximus → Forum and Ara Ubiorum → Decumanus Maximus → Market at the Forum → House of Dionysus Mosaic → Portus Coloniae → Ship Sheds → …
Step inside — 13 interiors
Forum Basilica Hall · Ara Ubiorum Sanctuary · Inn Hall on Decumanus · Market Macellum Hall · Dionysus Mosaic Triclinium · River Port Granary · River Fleet Long-shed · Praetorium Audience Hall · Castellum Aquae Reservoir · Iron-smith's Forge · Potter's Wheel and Kiln · Glass-blower's Furnace Room · Bathhouse Caldarium Chamber
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium.
Cologne in 1250
Medieval Cologne
Cologne in 1250 is a thriving Rhine merchant city and an archiepiscopal centre where an ambitious new cathedral has been set out to receive the famed Shrine of the Three Kings. The walk shows stone Romanesque towers and timber houses crowding narrow streets, busy river quays and the stout city wall with its dozen gates as pilgrims, masons and merchants move through the city.
The skyline is a tangle of squat Romanesque towers — Great St. Martin, St. Gereon, St. Maria im Kapitol and many others — puncturing a roofscape of steep timber-framed houses and tile roofs. The new cathedral works rise in dressed stone and scaffold; the Rhine ripples with cogs and riverboats at a busy quayside. Streets narrow between overhanging jettied houses; the city is ringed by a high stone wall pierced by substantial gates and flanking towers.
The walk — 21 streets, squares and views
Deutz Riverbank View → Severin Gate → Heumarkt Square → Great St. Martin Church → Fish Market → Old Market → Town Hall → Hohe Straße → Schildergasse → Cathedral Works → …
Step inside — 15 interiors
Severin Gate Guardroom · Great Meat Hall · Nave of Great St. Martin · Fishmongers' Shed · Town Hall Guild Hall · Cloth Merchant's Shop · Goldsmith's Workshop · Shrine of the Magi · Cathedral Masons' Lodge · Rhine Wine Tavern · Choir of St. Maria im Kapitol · Westwork Chapel · Apse Chapel of St. Gereon · Crypt of St. Pantaleon · Aisle and Tombs of St. Kunibert
Planned from the Wikipedia record: History of Cologne.
Cologne in 1880
Cathedral-completion Cologne
The city is celebrating the completion of its medieval cathedral: the twin spires are finally crowned and the Dom dominates the skyline. This walk follows the footsteps of citizens and visitors in 1880, from the Rhine approach and the new cathedral bridge to the narrow lanes, perfume houses and river steamers that shape Cologne's daily life.
The skyline is dominated by two needle-like Gothic spires rising above a compact carpet of red-brown tile roofs and stepped gables. An iron cathedral bridge spans the Rhine with sculpted equestrian kings on its balustrade, while coal-fired steamers and barges thread the river. Narrow medieval streets open onto busy market squares; shopfronts and perfume houses crowd stone-fronted lanes beneath the cathedral's blackened limestone façade. Light is often cool and clear, steel-grey against the new ironwork and the dark cathedral stone.
The walk — 21 streets, squares and views
View from Deutz → Dombrücke East Arch → Hauptbahnhof Forecourt → Domplatz and West Façade → South Portal and Steps → Center Span of Dombrücke → Rheinufer by the Dom → Fischmarkt Quay → Heumarkt Square → Alter Markt → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Central Station Arrival Hall · Finished Cathedral Nave · Shrine of the Three Kings · Belfry and Great Bell · Rhine Steamer Saloon · Hansasaal Council Chamber · Textile Merchant's Showroom · 4711 Perfume Workshop · Romanesque Nave Interior · Gürzenich Great Hall · Choir of St. Maria im Kapitol · Neumarkt Coffeehouse Salon
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Cologne Cathedral.
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