About Cologne

The city of Cologne is considered by many to be the economic and cultural capital of the Rhineland. Cologne's strategic location at the intersection of the River Rhine has made it one of the major trade routes between east and west Europe in trade. Cologne is Germanys fourth largest city behind Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.

Cologne City is 43% Roman Catholic and is also the seat of the catholic archdiocese.

The centre of Cologne was totally destroyed during World War II. The city was rebuilt in a postmodern era during the 1950s, some buildings of historical interest were rebuilt over a period of time because of their importance. But in general the city's buildings are built in a simple modern era style.

Cologne cathedral is not only the city's landmark but probably an unofficial reminder to the whole of Germany of the destruction wars can bring. This gothic church was started on in 1248 and only in 1880 was finally finished. The cathedral however during the World War II suffered badly and has gone through a long period of restoration. The people of Cologne have nicknamed the cathedral (the eternal construction site) with just cause they predict that completion of the site will end, when the end of the world will be upon us all.

The city of Cologne has been twinned with over twenty cities throughout Europe some of them are Liverpool, Rotterdam, Turin, Barcelona, Cork, Istanbul, Beijing, Bethlehem and several more.

Cologne Information

The city of cologne has 31 museums offering you a wide range of subjects from archaeological findings to contemporary works of art. The city of Cologne has always prided itself on the importance art has portrayed through its history. And its no surprise that Germanys biggest art fair is held in Cologne. The city is also home to Germanys TV industry, being home to RTL the biggest and most commercially successful private broadcasting company in Europe. Cologne is also fast becoming the leading city for developing independent filmmaking. The University of Cologne has around 49,000 students and well renowned in Germany for its economic department. There are three colleges in Cologne one of these is the Fachhochschule this is Germanys biggest college with a total of 18,000 students attending.

The city of Cologne has always been known to have a more tolerant attitude in life. And is now the major city in Germany for the Gay movement, they in fact have their headquarters based in cologne. The city is also host to the biggest gay pride event that is known as Christopher Street Day. Cologne is a very cosmopolitan city and over 20% of the cities population are non-German. The biggest ethnic group is that of the Turkish who were encouraged after World War II to rebuild the destroyed city.

Cologne is also famous for two liquids, but only one of them you can drink. The beer is called Kolsch that is also the name for the dialect that is spoken. The second liquid is that of Eau de cologne. It was an Italian expatriate called Johann Maria Farina who at the beginning of the 18th century created this new fragrance and named it after his hometown Eau de Cologne (water from cologne) the fame of the fragrance spread quickly around Europe. Then a merchant from cologne called Wilhelm Mulhens secured the name Farina that at that time was a household name. This led in later years to a courtroom battle and the grandson took a new name that of the 4711 which was the house number of the building in were cologne was produced. In 1994 the Mulhens family sold out to the German Wella Company Eua de Cologne is still sold today by both the Farina family and Proctor and Gamble who took over Wella in 2003.

Sport in Cologne

The summer of 2006 will see the World Cup being staged in Germany and Cologne is one of the cities hosting games during the competition. The city will host several matches during the competition one of those games being England versus Sweden on the 20th of June. Cologne is not just a football city though, sports from American football to water sports are all played in this multi sporting city.

Cologne now stages its own marathon and is regarded internationally and domestically as a major marathon competition. Last years race had over 15,000 runners taking part. Cologne is home to the American Football team the cologne crocodile who have been established 20 years. Cologne also has 2 soccer teams FC Cologne have a great history and were champions of Germany on three occasions 1962,1964 and 1978 the second soccer team is SC Fortuna.

Ices Hockey in cologne has a large following and the Cologne Sharks have won the German ice hockey league eight times and attract crowds of up to eighteen thousand.