Cologne 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 largest European metropolitan areas with over 12 million inhabitants.

Cologne lies at the River Rhine and the city's world famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is seat to a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and just as important to the city as its specially brewed Kölsch beer. Cologne University is one of Europe's oldest universities and internationally renowned for its economics department.

Cologne is the economic and cultural capital of the Rhineland and has one of Europe's most vibrant and thriving art scenes. Cologne counts over 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. Exhibitions range from local Ancient Roman archeological findings 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 and the Cologne Gay Pride events.

In 2005 Cologne hosted the 20th and one of the largest-ever meetings of the Catholic World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI and over a million participants.

The city covers an area of 405.15 km² (about 156 miles²), on both sides of the River Rhine. Cologne lies between 37.5 and 118.04 m above sea level. The city of Bonn lies 30 km to the south, and Düsseldorf lies 40 km to the north.

The centre of Cologne was completely destroyed during World War II. The reconstruction of the city, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets, followed the style of the 1950s. Thus, the city today is characterised by simple and modest post-war buildings, with few interspersed pre-war buildings which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Some buildings of the "Wiederaufbauzeit" (era of reconstruction) as e.g. the opera house by Wilhelm Riphahn are nowadays regarded as classics in modern architecture. Nevertheless, the uncompromising modern style of the opera house and other modern buildings is disputed until today.

Economy

Cologne plays a paramount role in Germany's television industry. It is home to Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) - the biggest branch of ARD, the syndicate of German public broadcasters. Cologne is also home to the private broadcaster RTL, as well as a large number of smaller media, television and film production companies.

Cologne has an International Airport which is shared with the neighbouring city of Bonn.

20% of Cologne's population is non-German. 40% of those (or 8% of the total population) are Turkish. Cologne has a well-respected gay community and has long been known for its easy-going and tolerant attitudes. The city is a stronghold of Germany's gay movement and harbours the headquarters of Germany's largest homosexual lobby group.

Cologne is well known for its beer, called Kölsch. Kölsch is also the name of the local dialect. This has led to the common joke that Kölsch is the only language you can drink.

One of Colognes largest companies is the European headquarter of the Ford Motor Company with large administrative, technical and production departments.

Cologne is also famous for Eau de Cologne. At 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 from 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. Today, original Eau de Cologne (German: Kölnisch Wasser) still is produced in Cologne by both the Farina family (Farina gegenüber since 1709), currently in the eighth generation, and by Procter & Gamble who took over Wella in 2003.

Landmarks

Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it claims to house the relics of the Three Magi. It is interesting to note, that the residents of Cologne call the cathedral "the eternal construction site". They predict that by the time the renovation of the building has finished the end of the world will be upon us!
Twelve Romanesque Churches: These buildings are outstanding examples of medieval sacral architecture. The roots of some of the churches date back even to Roman times, like St. Gereon, which originally was a chapel on a Roman graveyard. With the exception of St. Maria Lyskirchen all of these churches had been very badly damaged during World War II. Reconstruction was only finished in the 1990s.
Cologne University, with approx. 44,000 students as of 2005, is one of the largest universities in Germany.
Fragrance-Museum Farina House, the birthplace of Eau de Cologne.
Römisch-Germanisches Museum (English: Roman-Germanic Museum)
Wallraf-Richartz Museum
Museum Ludwig
EL-DE Haus documents the Germany's National Socialist past
Kölner Philharmonie - the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra (also known as Gürzenich Orchestra) and the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra Building
RheinEnergieStadion, the major Cologne stadium, primarily used for football games, seating 50,997 visitors in national games and 46,134 in international games, home to the local Bundesliga team, 1.FC Köln, and to the local NFL Europe team, the Cologne Centurions.
Kölnarena, a multifunctional event hall, home to the local ice hockey team, the Kölner Haie (English: Cologne Sharks).
Kölnturm (English: Cologne Tower), with 150 metres in height Cologne's second tallest building, second only to the cathedral.
Colonius - a telecommunication tower with an observation deck.
Colonia-Hochhaus - Germany's tallest residential building.
Hansa-Hochhaus - designed by architect Jakob Koerfer and completed in 1925, it was Europe's tallest office building.
Rheinseilbahn - an aerial tramway crossing the Rhine.
Messeturm Köln (English: Exhibition Tower Cologne).
Hohe Strasse (English: High Street) is one of the main shopping areas and extends past the cathedral in an approximately southern direction. This street is particularly popular with tourists and contains many gift shops, clothing stores, (fast food) restaurants and electronic goods dealers.
Ford Motor Company plants, assembling the Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion as well as manufacturing engines and parts.
Schildergasse - extends the shopping area of Hohe Strasse to the West ending at Neumarkt.
Ehrenstrasse - the shopping area around Apostelnstrasse, Ehrenstrasse, and Rudolfplatz is a little more on the eccentric and stylish side.
Historic Ringe boulevards (such as Hohenzollernring, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring, Hansaring) with their medieval city gates (such as Hahnentorburg on Rudolfplatz) are also known for their night life.
German Sports & Olympic Museum, with expositions about sports from antiquity until present.
Schokoladenmuseum (Chocolatemuseum) officially called Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum.

Article from Wikipedia (original article)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License