About Cologne:
Culture & History
A Very Short History of the City of Cologne
The area aorund Cologne was first settled during the Stone Age. In ancient times, the Teutonic tribe of the Ubii settled here. Around 50 AD, Romans founded the “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium” (colony of Claudius and altar of the Agrippina) which became the most important city in the Roman dominated part of ancient Germany. In the Middle Ages, due to its location at the river Rhine, Cologne became an important trading hub, an important center of the Catholic faith, and the seat of the archbishop of Cologne. At the end of the 18th century, Cologne was occupied by the French and became part of the French Empire. After the reconstitution of Europe, Cologne was part of Prussia. During World War II, Cologne was largely destroyed in allied air raids, although the cathedral was fortunately remained mostly intact. Most of the buildings you see today were rebuilt or reconstructed during the past 60 years. Cologne was liberated on March 7th, 1945, by the U.S. Army.
In the 20th century, the municipal area of Cologne was expanded several times and some former independent towns were absorbed into the city. Today Cologne has more than 1,000,000 inhabitants, who include immigrants from all over the world who now have a new home here. Due to its Roman roots and because of its lifestyle, Cologne is sometimes called “the northernmost city of Italy”.
Carnival
The well-known Cologne event certainly is Carnival.
During the Carnival season, which begins on November 11th and ends 43 days before Easter on “Aschermittwoch” (Ash Wednesday), it is not uncommon to find people costumed as clowns, pirates, cowboys, or whatever.
The most important day is Carnival Monday (“Rosenmontag”), when the great parade (“Rosenmontagszug”) takes place. On that day, marching bands and revellers march through the inner city. To entertain children of all ages, tons of candies are tossed to the spectators. Floats with paper-mâché figures satirize politics and other events of the past year.
Care must be taken on the Carnival Thursday, when women take over the festivities. They are allowed to cut off men’s ties to demonstrate their takeover of power in the city.
Although the tradition of Carnival dates back to the Middle Ages, today's organised Carnival can be dated back to 1823 and is also popular in other cities in the area like Bonn and Düsseldorf.