"Cologne, Germany" a Cologne Travel Page by leafmcgowan

State: North Rhine-Westphalia; Area: 405.15 km² (156.4 sq mi); Elevation: 37 m (121 ft) above sea level; Population: 995,397 (31 December 2007); Founded: 50 AD. Website: www.stadt-koeln.de.

Cologne (German: Köln (help·info), IPA: [kœln]; local dialect: Kölle [ˈkœɫə]) is Germany's fourth-largest city (after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich), and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC. Cologne was granted the status of a Roman "city" in the year 50 AD. The city is one of Rhineland's most spectacular cultural centers and is located along the Rhine River and most famous for its media, art, theater, mimes, shopping, fashion, the Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) and the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) which is one of Europe's oldest universities. Cologne has over 30 museums and hundred of art galleries. The exhibitions range from local art, theater, and local ancient Roman archeological sites to contemporary graphics and sculpture. The city's Trade Fair Grounds are host to a number of trade shows such as the Art Cologne Fair, the International Furniture Fair (IMM) and the Photokina. Cologne is also well-known for its celebration of Cologne Carnival, the annual reggae summerjam, and the gay/lesbian pride festival Christopher Street Day (CSD). The city has more women than men (100 females to 95 males). Cologne is popular for its Eau de Cologne (Kölnisch Wasser) (perfume) and beer, called Kölsch which is named after a local dialect thereby leading to the common joke that Kölsch is the only language you can drink. The nickname of perfumery is named after the city because in the beginning of the 18th century, Italian expatriate Johann Maria Farina (1685–1766) created a new fragrance and named it after his hometown Cologne, Eau de Cologne (Water of Cologne). In the course of the 18th century the fragrance became increasingly popular. Eventually, Cologne merchant Wilhelm Mülhens secured the name Farina, which at that time had become a household name for Eau de Cologne, under contract and opened a small factory at Cologne's Glockengasse. In later years, and under pressure from court battles, his grandson Ferdinand Mülhens chose a new name for the firm and their product. It was the house number that was given to the factory at Glockengasse during French occupation of the Rhineland in the early 19th century, number 4711. In 1994, the Mülhens family sold their company to German Wella corporation. In 2003 Procter & Gamble took over Wella. Today, original Eau de Cologne still is produced in Cologne by both the Farina family (Farina gegenüber since 1709), currently in the eighth generation, and by Mäurer and Wirtz who bought the 4711 brand in December 2006. [wikipedia].

The first settlement in the area was in 38 BC by a Germanic tribe known as the Ubii and called the Oppidum Ubiorum. When the Romans took over, they deemed it a Roman city and re-named it "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium". As with many cities and settlements along the Rhine, considerable Roman remains can be found underneath. Here in Cologne, notably the temple next to the Cathedral, homes, and at the wharf area, where a discovery of a 1900 year old Roman boat was made in late 2007. During the Middle Ages the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven prince-electors and one of the three ecclesiastical electors. The archbishops had ruled large temporal domains but in 1288 Sigfried II von Westerburg was defeated in the Battle of Worringen and forced into exile at Bonn. The Cities location on the river Rhine placed it at the intersection of the major trade routes between east and west and was the basis of Cologne's growth. Cologne became a Free Imperial City in 1475. It became a outstanding centre of medieval pilgrimage, when Cologne's Archbishop Rainald of Dassel gave the relics of the Three Wise Men to Cologne's cathedral in 1164. Besides the three magi Cologne preserves the relics of Saint Ursula and Albertus Magnus. In the 19th/20th centuries Cologne lost its status as a free city during the French period. According to the Peace Treaty of Lunéville (1801) all the territories of the Holy Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine were officially incorporated into the French Republic (which already had occupied Cologne in 1798). Thus, this region later became part of Napoleon's Empire. Cologne was heavily affected by the French. Then in 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, Cologne was made part of the Kingdom of Prussia, first in the Jülich-Cleves-Berg province and then the Rhine province. Much tension followed between the Catholics and the Protestants which was still significant after World War II, when the former mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, became the first West German chancellor. During this time Cologne absorbed numerous surrounding towns, and by World War I had already grown to 700,000 inhabitants. Industrialization changed the city and spurred its growth. Vehicle and engine manufacturing were especially successful, though heavy industry was less ubiquitous than in the Ruhr area. The cathedral, started in 1248 but abandoned around 1560, was eventually finished in 1880 not just as a place of worship but also as a German national monument celebrating the newly founded German empire and the continuity of the German nation since the Middle Ages. After WWI, during which several minor air raids had targeted the city, Cologne was occupied by British Forces until 1926 under the terms of the armistice and the subsequent Versailles Peace Treaty. By the end of the British occupation, German civil aviation was readmitted over Cologne and the airport of Butzweilerhof soon became a hub for national and international air traffic, second in Germany only to Berlin-Tempelhof. By 1939 the population had risen to 772,221. Compared to other major cities the Nazis did not gain decisive support in Cologne and the number of votes cast for the NSDAP in Reichstag elections was always below the national average.

During World War II, Köln was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärische Bereich Befehl Hauptsitze) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was the Home Station for the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment. Cologne was devastated by the War in 1945 with multiple bombings and over 262 air raids causing over 20,000 civilian casualties almost wiping out the center of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the site of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas. The same happened in many other German cities in the last two years of war. At the end of 1945, the population had already risen to about 500,000 again. By that time, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 20,000 had been deported or killed. The six synagogues of the city were destroyed . The only rebuilt synagogue on Roonstraße was the site of a historic visit in 2005 by the German-born Pope Benedict XVI, only the second Pope to ever visit a synagogue. Today the city became home to a large number of Federal agencies and organizations. After re-unification in 1990 Berlin was made the Federal capital of Germany. In 1945 architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz called Cologne the "world's greatest heap of debris". Schwarz designed the master plan of reconstruction in 1947, which called for the construction of several new thoroughfares through the downtown area, especially the Nord-Süd-Fahrt ("North-South-Drive"). The masterplan took into consideration the fact that even shortly after the war a large increase in automobile traffic could be anticipated. Plans for new roads had already to a certain degree evolved under the Nazi administration, but the actual construction became easier in times when the majority of downtown lots were undeveloped. The destruction of famous Romanesque churches like St. Gereon, Great St. Martin, St. Maria im Capitol and about a dozen others in World War II meant a tremendous loss of cultural substance to the city. The rebuilding of those churches and other landmarks like the Gürzenich event hall was not undisputed among leading architects and art historians at that time, but in most cases, civil intention prevailed. The reconstruction lasted until the 1990s, when Romanesque church of St. Kunibert was finished. By 1959 the city's population reached pre-war numbers again. It then grew steadily, exceeding 1 million for about one year from 1975. It has remained just below that since. [abstracted and copied from Wikipedia history ]