Cologne Germany: do you know the first given name of the oldest German city? Do you know how long it took to build its Cathedral? Do you also know what their scariest natural disaster is? Keep reading …
Cologne Germany (Köln) is the oldest making it the first German city. When it became a city in AD 50, it was named Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA) after the Roman empress Agrippina.
Cologne is Catholic and had a bishop from 313. In 785, it became the seat of an archbishop. The Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled over a large area as a secular lord in the Middle Ages, but in 1288 he was defeated by the citizens of Cologne and forced to move to Bonn.
Cologne Germany was a member of the Hanseatic League. It officially became a free city in 1475, but lost its free status and regained its archbishopric during the French period. In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, it became part of the Prussian kingdom.
The beginning of the construction of the Cologne Cathedral was in 1248, it was abandoned in the middle of the 16th century and it was finished in 1880. That took 632 years; think about it … Visit http://www.smart-travel-germany.com/cologne-cathedral.html to step side by side in the history of Cologne Cathedral.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Cologne incorporated numerous surrounding cities, thus having a population of 600,000 at the time of the First World War.
In World War II, Cologne Germany was repeatedly bombed. Cologne Cathedral received 14 hits from aerial bombs, but fortunately it did not collapse. When the city was in ruins (see image at http://www.smart-travel-germany.com/cologne.html), it took some time to rebuild, but then its buildings and population grew again. So, since 1975, the population of Cologne, Germany, has always been around one million inhabitants.
So much the Rhine brought prosperity and quality of life to the city, so feared is its flood. The worst flood ever recorded occurred in February 1784. After an extremely long and cold winter, the temperature skyrocketed. The river Rhine had frozen over and the thaw, as well as the breaking of the open ice, firmly provided a record water level of 13.55 m. That was ten meters above the normal level!
The tides, on which heavy icebergs floated, devastated remote parts of the development of the shores and all the ships. 65 people died. The Mülheim district on the right side of the Rhine was completely destroyed.
In more recent time, a flood protection concept envisages the establishment of sheet pile walls. That should protect the old town to a level of 10 meters against flooding. Still, the old town is a flood magnet.
Despite this, Cologne is known as the fun city of all German cities. You go into a tavern and you don’t know anyone and you go out with a lot of friends. It is very easy to get in touch with the people of Cologne. In February, during the Cologne Carnival, the entire land of the Rhine celebrates for at least six days, with tons of sweets. and kisses.
Kind regards,
Marcus hochstadt
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