Our Blog - Cologne, Germany

Another Christmas season, another trip to visit a Christmas Market. Last year, it was Strasbourg, and this year, we headed across the border into Germany and visited Cologne. The day before we were scheduled to fly out, there was a national strike in France and most flights out of Toulouse were cancelled. Thankfully for us, the air traffic controllers only did a 1-day strike and our flights went off without a hitch.

Cologne is the 4th most populous city in Germany with just over 1 million people. The city started in the 1st century when the Romans established Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (which means Colony of Claudius and Altar of the Agrippinians). Multiple parts of the old Roman city have been found including a 1,900-year-old Roman boat that was discovered in 2007. Most of it is in a museum which is closed for renovation.

The city flourished in the middle ages and prior to World War II, ended up under German, French, and British rule at various points in time. The first city wall was built for the Roman city between the 1st and 3rd centuries. Then in the middle ages, a more extensive, semi-circular fortification was built, and then expanded again in 1815 under the Prussians.

Of the twelve medieval city gates that once existed, only the Eigelsteintorburg at Ebertplatz, the Hahnentor at Rudolfplatz and the Severinstorburg at Chlodwigplatz still stand today.

This is the Eigelsteintorburg and it is a great example of how I think about the German language ...to get a new word or a name, you just put a few other words together. Eigelstein is the name of the street that passes through it, which dates back to Roman times with Stein meaning stone, Tor means gate, and Burg means castle. So this was the stone castle gate of Eigel. Mind you .... I'm sure someone who actually knows German will come back and tell me I am wrong, but hey, I like to think that I understand these things! Back to the gate ... Eigelsteintorburg was built between 1228 and 1248 and secured the Northern entrance to the city. This was the so-called 3rd expansion of the walls, with the first Eigelstein gate about 100 m South of this one, and the original Roman north gate being even further South. In 1891, a stone figure "The Kölsche Boor" (The Cologne Peasant), originally designed by Christian Mohr for the Hahnentor in 1885, was installed in a niche on the city side. The city keys on his left arm, he leans on a flail with his left hand, on a shield with his right hand, completely covered with the Cologne double-headed eagle, which bears the old Cologne coat of arms on the chest - the three crowns in the head of the shield, the main part bare (until the 16th century). The boat is a wrecked cutter from World War I that sunk in 1915.

This is the coat of arms (or part of the coat of arms depending on who you ask). The 3 crowns at the top symbolize the Three Wise Men (Magi) who gave gifts to the baby Jesus, whose bones are supposedly kept in a golden sarcophagus in the Cathedral (that you will see later). The 11 teardrops symbolize Cologne's patron, Saint Ursula, and her legendary 11,000 virgin companions who were supposedly martyred by Attila the Hun at Cologne for their Christian faith in 383. The entourage of Ursula and the number of victims was significantly smaller; according to one source, the original legend referred to only eleven companions and the number was later inflated.

Similar to Toulouse, there are bits and pieces of Roman things here and there in Cologne, including this piece of the Roman fortification wall. It was found while digging to build a parking garage. So what did they do? Similar to the town of Cahors in France, they built the parking garage around the wall.

This is a well that dates back to medieval times, with the well shaft still intact. It also is down in the parking garage.

The Romano-Germanic Museum is currently closed (although there is a way to see 2 things I think). It houses a large collection of Roman artifacts from the Roman settlement here. The museum protects the original site of a Roman town villa, from which this large Dionysus mosaic remains in its original place in the basement. Thankfully, they built the museum so that the mosaic is visible from the outside.

Kölsch is a style of beer that originated in Cologne and, similar to wine appellations in France, "Kölsch" is strictly defined and must be brewed according to a specific convention and within 30 miles of the city of Cologne. Kölsch is traditionally served in a tall, thin, cylindrical 20 cl glass called a Stange. The server, called a Köbes, carries twelve Stangen in a Kranz, a circular tray resembling a crown or wreath. Instead of waiting for the drinker to order a refill, the Köbes immediately replaces an empty Stange with a full one, marking a tick on a coaster. If you don't want a refill, you put the coaster on top of the empty glass.

Now our first dinner. We did a few things that are very traditional in Cologne, and a few other things that were German or German/French. We'll start with the appetizers. The first is Metthappen mit Zweibeln, which was translated on the menu as "spiced ground beef and pork with fresh onions". Mind you ... I think they forgot to put the word "raw" in the English description! The French do steak tartare with beef, but raw pork is a bit odd. Tom actually liked it and I didn't *not* like it although it was a bit odd mentally eating raw pork.

Second appetizer is another specialty of the area, a Halver Hahn mit Röggelchen, or middle-aged Dutch cheese with a rye-roll and butter. This one I truly enjoyed!

First main coarse was very German ... Rostbratwürstchen mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffepüree ... grilled sausages with mashed potatoes and pickled cabbage. One of the great things about German (and French) sauerkraut is that it is not as sour as what Tom & I both remember eating as kids, coming out of a can.

And then Schweinshaxe mit Bratkartoffeln und Krautsalat, roasted pork knuckle with fried potatoes and coleslaw. The pork knuckle (called jarret du porc in France) was huge and amazingly tender and flavorful!

There are several Christmas markets in Cologne. This is what is thought of as the most attractive Christmas market, which is on the Alter Markt in front of the town hall. It is called the Heinzels Wintermarchen, which means the winter market of the House Gnomes (that you can see a few up at the top over the name). Legend has it that the Heinzelmännchen (house gnomes) performed all sorts of different jobs for the locals of Cologne: they prepared the sausages for the butcher, sewed the clothes for the tailor, and baked the bread for the baker. And so the winding alleys of the “house gnomes Christmas market” are differently themed, just like the guilds of days past. They have a ferris wheel right in front of the old Town Hall tower, and I got some pictures and a video of one of the craftsmen, this one a metal worker that would make you a little horseshoe with your name on it.

City Hall is famous for its loggia, the Renaissance façade built by the Kalkar master builder Wilhelm Vernukken between 1569 and 1573. The late Gothic style tower with three tetragonal lower floors and two octagonal upper floors boasts an impressive 130 stone statues and the famous "Platzjabbeck", a wooden grotesque face sculpture which opens its mouth and sticks out its tongue when the tower clock strikes the hour.

We haven't really ever done this before, but we decided to do the Cologne Time Ride. There are basically 3 parts to this: 3D images depicting famous places of interest in Cologne – past and present, a movie that shows Cologne’s eventful history – from its start in the Roman era through medieval and imperial times to the present day, and a Virtual Reality experience. During this part, you climb aboard a replica historic tram and are taken on a virtual tour through the old city of Cologne during the imperial age. It was actually pretty cool. While the VR itself wasn't totally smooth, it was pretty interesting to see people walking by our tram in history.

Edith Stein was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism ad became a nun. She was arrested by the Nazis at a monastery in The Netherlands in 1942 and sent to Auschwitz, where she died 7 days later. She was beatified in 1987, which was a bit controversial because her death was due to her being Jewish by birth and not her Catholic faith. In 1999, this memorial statue was dedicated, with three different views of Stein reflecting her Jewish and Christian faith, and a pile of empty shoes representing the victims of the holocaust.

The Cologne City Museum tells the history of the city from the Middle Ages to the present and is housed in the historic Zeughaus, the armory that was built around 1600 in a Dutch Renaissance style. The car on the top was created by an artist named HA Schult and is made completely out of gold. It was created in 1991 as part of the performance Fetisch Auto (Fetish Car) and then moved to the roof of the museum later.

The Römerturm, built around 50 AD, marks the northwest corner of the still-visible Roman city wall and is decorated with various mosaics.

The Hahnentorburg gate allowed access on the Western side of the city. The gate was built as a double tower gate in the early 13th century. As you can see, the tour was badly damaged in the Second World War with half of the tower destroyed. There was a small Christmas market held there, with an animated Moose that "woke up" every few minutes and said something (which I didn't understand as it was in German).

Blaue Funken Turm translates to the Blue Sparks Tower. Blue Sparks is one of the oldest carnival societies in the city and they are housed in the Saxony tower, part of the medieval fortifications at the Sachsenring.

The Ulrepforte (Kölsch Ülepooz) was built in the early 13th century as part of the medieval city wall, and was the smallest of the city ​​gates.

So this picture is not anything specific, but I wanted to show the architecture. You can see an "old" architecture house next to a brand new one. This was quite normal to see as we walked around the old part of the city. Due to the bombings, sometimes only the façade of a building would be kept and everything behind it would be a brand new building (hence the "old" façade). In other cases, the façade was destroyed or was not salvageable, and so you get the new façade.

Around the first half of the 13th century, the Severinstor was built as a heavy tower gate castle with an asymmetrical hexagonal tower structure with a crenellated roof platform made of tufa. It housed several museums before coming the home to the Cologne Hitler Youth during the National Socialist era. Today, the Severinstorburg is the official wedding place of the city of Cologne. During the holidays, there is another small Christmas Market there.

At the Christmas Market closest to our hotel, at the Neumarkt, each of the chalets had different decorations in the eaves.

Another dinner, this time we skipped the appetizers since the main courses are pretty large. Both of us got potato dumplings and German warm red cabbage, paired with either Saurbraten (beef rump roast in a red wine vinegar sauce) or a goose leg.

They also have a Christmas market at the Cathedral, and I have a couple pictures of the chalets during the day in the Cathedral blog (link at the bottom). Here I have a few at night with Cathedral behind and one of the hotels nearby with nice decorations.

Within Cologne, there are 12 Romanesque Churches dating from the 4th century up to about the 13th century. We visited 4 of them ... we start with Great Saint Martin. It was constructed starting in 1150 as a Benedictine abbey church on the site of former Roman storehouses from the 2nd century and previous churches from the early Middle Ages. Most of the church was completed in the mid 13th century although the spire dates from the mid 15th century. The architecture of its eastern end forms a triconch or trefoil plan, consisting of three apses around the crossing. During the bombing of January 1945, the triforiums of all three apses were destroyed. By the end of the war, all of the ceilings had been destroyed. It was only re-opened in 1985.

Another of the Twelve Romanesque Churches in Cologne, this is the St. Maria im Kapitol. It was built starting in 1030 as a convent for Benedictine nuns. There was a Roman Capitol temple in the 1st century on the same site. It was the first monumental clover-leaf construction in the western world. It was severely damaged during the bombing raids in World War II and the reconstruction lasted from 1957 until 1984 when the entire church was reopened. As we walked in, we first encountered the cloister.

Here are pictures that were shown of the damage from the air raids.

Many of the authentic furnishings have survived to this day, among the most impressive features are the massive wooden doors with intricate carvings from 1065, the stained glass windows, and a plague crucifix from around 1300. The frescoes, while not in the best shape, date from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Saint Andreas Church was built in the 12th century and is another Romanesque church, although the exterior has a very different shape that the previous ones that we have seen. As you enter, you are met by a life-size statue of Saint Christopher, patron saint of travelers.

The church is known for its well-preserved Gothic murals dating back to the 1300's. In this one, the life of the Virgin is depicted in four panels, one above the other. At the bottom one can see the Crucified Christ, on his right the Virgin Mary supported by St. John the Evangelist, next to her St. Peter and St. Ursula. To the left of Christ is the apostle Philippus, next to him St. Lambertus and St. George. The picture above shows the Adoration of the three Magi, with servants and their horses behind them. The next picture above this is divided into three scenes: The Annunciation, the Virgin visiting Elisabeth and the Birth of Christ. The uppermost picture in the pointed arch shows the Coronation of the Virgin by Jesus Christ, surrounded by angels.

This wooden pieta dates from the end of the 14th century.

The Maccabees Reliquary houses the skulls of the seven Maccabean brothers and their mother who were martyred in the 2nd century BC for their faith in the Jewish law. The reliquary shows scenes of their sufferings parallel to the life of Jesus: the story of the transport of their relics from Milan to Cologne; Christ's Ascension to heaven and the Assumption of the Maccabean brothers with their mother; the coronation of their mother and also of the Virgin Mary; the four evangelists, Christ, the Virgin Mary and St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who was responsible for the exhumation of the relics; and Bishop Reinald von Dassel, who had the relics transported to Cologne.

Another of the 12 Romanesque Churches in Cologne, this is the 12th century Basilica of St. Gereon. It has an irregular plan with a large dome covering the nave. You can see the various levels with the Romanesque arches around the nave and apse. Inside the church, you will find a variety of medieval mosaics, murals, and precious ancient relics. The Pieta sculpture, based on Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome, was created by Anton Josef Reiss from Dusseldorf, in 1897.

The church of Saint Maria Himmelfahrt is also known as the Church of the Assumption. It is the largest church in Cologne after the Cathedral. The church was built for the Jesuits in the late 1600’s and was the first significant Baroque church in the city although it also has some Romanesque and Gothic style elements. The church was heavily damaged in World War II but was completely rebuilt by 1979.

Here are a couple before-and-after pictures, showing the nave and the high altar.

St. Maria in der Kupfergasse is another Baroque church and was completed in 1715. The two most impressive things here are the elaborate carved-wood items and the 17th century black Madonna. The altar and communion bench were carved around 1717, and the Baroque confessional is from a nearby church that was destroyed by the war.

And now to show the damage from World War II, the first picture is of the church in 1729 and then in 1946 with a large hole in the wall where a bomb had hit.

And now that we've talked a little about it, you can read/see more on the Cathedral itself in our Cologne Cathedral blog.