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See also:COLOGNE (Ger. Koln, or officially, since 1900, Coln) , a See also:city and archiepiscopal see of See also:Germany, in the Prussian See also:Rhine See also:province, a fortress of the first See also:rank, and one of the most important commercial towns of the See also:empire . Pop . (1885) 239,437; (1900) 370,685; (1905) 428,503, of which about 8o% are See also:Roman Catholics . It lies in the See also:form of a vast semicircle on the See also:left See also:bank of the Rhine, 44 M. by See also:rail See also:north-See also:east from See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, 24 See also:south-east from See also:Dusseldorf and 57 north-north-See also:west from See also:Coblenz . Its situation on the broad and navigable Rhine, and at the centre of an extensive network of See also:railways, giving it See also:direct communication with all the important cities of See also:Europe, has greatly fostered its See also:trade, while its See also:close proximity to the beautiful scenery of the Rhine, has rendered it a favourite tourist resort . When viewed from a distance, especially from the See also:river, the city, with its See also:medieval towers and buildings, the whole surmounted by the majestic See also:cathedral, is picturesque and imposing . The See also:ancient walls and ditches, which formerly environed the city, were dismantled between 1881 and 1885, and the site of the old fortifications, bought from the See also:government by the See also:municipality, were converted into a See also:fine See also:boulevard, the See also:Ring, nearly 4 M. See also:long . Beyond the Ring, about m. farther out, a new continuous See also:line of See also:wall fortifications, with outlying clusters of earthworks and forts, has since been erected; loon acres, now occupied by handsome streets, squares and two public parks, were thus added to the inner See also:town, almost doubling its See also:area . See also:Cologne is connected by See also:bridges with the suburb of See also:Deutz . Within the See also:outer municipal boundary are included (besides Deutz) the suburbs of Bayenthal, Lindenthal, Ehrenfeld, Nippes, Sulz, Bickendorf, Niehl and See also:Poll, protected by another widely extended circle of detached forts on both See also:banks of the Rhine . Of the former city See also:gates four have been retained, restored and converted into museums: the Severin See also:gate, on the south, contains the See also:geological See also:section of the natural See also:history museum; the Hahnen gate, on the west, is fitted as the See also:historical and antiquarian museum of the city; and the Eigelstein gate, on the north, accommodates the zoological section of the natural history museum . Cologne, with the tortuous, narrow and dark streets and lanes of the old inner town, is still regarded as one of the least attractive See also:capital cities of Germany; but in See also:modern times it has been greatly improved, and the evil smells which formerly characterized it have yielded to proper sanitary arrangements .
The most important squares are the Domhof, the Heumarkt, Neumarkt, Alte Markt and Waidmarkt in the old inner, and the Hansa-platz in the new inner town
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The long Hohe-strasse of the old town is the See also:chief business See also:street
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The cathedral or Dom, the See also:principal edifice and chief See also:object of See also:interest in Cologne, is one of the finest and purest monuments of See also:Gothic See also:architecture in Europe (for See also:plan, &c. see ARCHITECTURE: Romanesque and- Gothic in Germany)
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It stands on the site of a cathedral begun about the beginning of the 9th See also:century by Hildebold, See also:metropolitan of Cologne, and finished under Willibert in 873
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This structure was ruined by the See also:Normans, was rebuilt, but in 1248 was almost wholly destroyed by See also:fire
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The See also:foundation of the See also:present cathedral was then laid by See also:Conrad of Hochstaden (See also:archbishop from 1288 to 1261)
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The See also:original plan of the See also:building has been attributed to See also:Gerhard von Rile (d. c
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1295)
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In 1322 the new See also:choir was consecrated, and the bones of the Three See also:Kings were removed to it from the See also:place they had occupied in the former cathedral
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After Conrad's See also:death the See also:work of building advanced but slowly, and at the See also:time of the See also:Reformation it ceased entirely
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In the See also:early See also:part of the 19th century the repairing of the cathedral was taken in See also:hand, in 1842 the building of fresh portions necessary for the completion of the whole structure was begun, and on the 15th of See also:October 188o the edifice, finally finished, was opened in the presence of the See also:emperor See also:
The heaviest of the seven bells (Kaiserglocke), See also:cast in 1874 from the See also:metal of See also:French guns, weighs 543 cwt., and is the largest and heaviest See also:bell that is See also:rung
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In the choir the See also:heart of See also:Marie de' See also:Medici is buried; and in the adjoining See also:side-chapels are monuments of the founder and other archbishops of Cologne, and the See also:shrine of the Three Kings, which is adorned with See also:gold and See also:precious stones
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The three kings of Cologne (Kaspar, Melchior and Balthazar) were supposed to be the three See also:wise men who came from the East to pay See also:adoration to the See also:infant See also:Christ; according to the See also:legend, the emperor See also:Frederick I
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See also:Barbarossa brought their bones from See also:Milan in 1162, and had them buried in Cologne cathedral, and miraculous See also:powers of healing were attributed to these See also:relics
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The very numerous and richly-coloured windows, presented at various times to the cathedral, add greatly to the imposing effect of the interior
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The view of the cathedral has been much improved by a clearance of the old houses on the Domhof, including the archiepiscopal See also:palace, but the new See also:Hof, though flanked by many fine buildings, is displeasing owing to the intrusion of numerous modern palatial hotels and shops
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Among the other churches of Cologne, which was fondly styled in the See also:middle ages the "Lholy city " (heilige Stadi) and " German See also:Rome," and, according to legend, possessed as many sacred fanes as there are days in the See also:year, are several of interest both for their See also:age and for the monuments and See also:works of See also:art they contain
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In St See also:Peter's are the famous See also:altar-piece by See also:Rubens, representing the Crucifixion of St Peter, several works by See also:Lucas See also:van See also:Leyden, and some old German See also:glass-paintings
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St See also:
Among the more prominent See also:secular buildings are the Gurzenich, a former See also:meeting-place of the diets of the See also:Holy Roman Empire, built between 1441 and 1447, of which the ground See also:floor was in 1875 converted into a stock See also:exchange, and the upper See also: A large new See also:harbour, with spacious quays, has been constructed towards the south of the city . In 1903, the See also:traffic of the See also:port amounted to over one million tons . Industrially, also, Cologne is a place of high importance . Of the numerous manufactures, among which may be especially mentioned See also:sugar, See also:chocolate, See also:tobacco and cigars, the most famous is the perfume known as eau de Cologne (q.v.) (Kolnisches Wasser, i.e . Cologne-See also:water) . Of the See also:newspapers published at Cologne the most important is the Kolnische Zeitung (often referred to as the " Cologne See also:Gazette "), which has the largest circulation of any See also:paper in Germany, and See also:great See also:weight and See also:influence . It must be distinguished from the Kolnische Volkszeitung, which is the organ of the Clerical party in the Prussian Rhine provinces . History.—Cologne occupies the site of Oppidum Ubiorum, the chief town of the Ubii, and here in A.D . 5o a Roman See also:colony, Colonic, was planted by the emperor See also:Claudius, at the See also:request of his wife See also:Agrippina, who was See also:born in the place . After her it was named Colonia Agrippina or Agrippinensis . Cologne See also:rose to be the chief town of Germania Secunda, and had the See also:privilege of the See also:Jus Italicum . Both See also:Vitellius and See also:Trajan were at Cologne when they became emperors .
About 330 the city was taken by the See also:Franks but was not permanently occupied by.them till the 5th century, becoming in 475 the residence of the Frankish See also: Early in the 12th century the city was enlarged by the inclusion of suburbs of Oversburg; Niederich and St Aposteln; in 118o these were enclosed in a permanent rampart which, in the 13th century, was strengthened with the walls and gates that survived till the 19th century . The municipal history of Cologne is of considerable interest . In See also:general it follows the same lines as that of other cities of Lower Germany and the See also:Netherlands . At first the See also:bishop ruled through his See also:burgrave, See also:advocate, and nominated jurats (scabini, Schojen) . Then, as the trading classes See also:grew in See also:wealth, his jurisdiction began to be disputed; the conjuratio See also:pro libertate of 1112 seems to have been an See also:attempt to establish a See also:commune (see COMMUNE, MEDIEVAL) . See also:Peculiar to Cologne, however, was the Richerzeche (rigirzegheide), a See also:corporation of all the wealthy See also:patricians, which gradually absorbed in its hands the direction of the city's government (the first See also:record of its active interference is in 1225) . In the 13th century the archbishops made repeated efforts to reassert their authority, and in 1259 Archbishop Conrad of Hochstaden, by appealing to the democratic See also:element of the See also:population, the " brotherhoods " (fraternitates) of the craftsmen, succeeded in overthrowing the Richerzeche and See also:driving its members into See also:exile . His successor, Engelbert II., however, attempted to overthrow the democratic constitution set up by him, with the result that in 1262 the brotherhoods combined with the patricians against the archbishop, and the Richerzeche returned to See also:share its authority with the elected " great See also:council " (Weiter See also:Rat) . As yet, however, none of the trade or See also:craft See also:gilds, as such, had a share in the government, which continued in the hands of the patrician families, membership of which was necessary even for See also:election to the council and to the parochial offices . This continued long after the See also:battle of Worringen (1288) had finally secured for the city full self-government, and the archbishops had ceased to reside within its walls . In the 14th century a narrow patrician council selected from the Richerzeche, with two burgomasters, was supreme . In 1370 an insurrection of the weavers was suppressed; but in 1396, the See also:rule of the patricians, having been weakened by See also:internal dissensions, a bloodless revolution led to the See also:establishment of a comparatively democratic constitution, based on the organization of the trade and craft gilds, which lasted with but slight modification till the French Revolution . The greatness of Cologne, in the middle ages as now, was due to her trade . Wine and See also:herrings were the chief articles of her commerce; but her weavers had been in repute from time immemorial, and exports of See also:cloth were large, while her gold-smiths and armourers were famous . So early as the 11th century her merchants were settled in See also:London, their colony forming the See also:nucleus of the See also:Steelyard . When, in 1201, the city joined the Hanseatic See also:League (q.v.) its power and repute were so great that it was made the chief place of a third of the See also:confederation . In spite of their feuds with the archbishops, the burghers of Cologne were stanch Catholics, and the number of the magnificent medieval churches left is See also:evidence at once of their piety and their wealth . The university, founded in 1389 by the See also:sole efforts of the citizens, soon gained a great reputation; in the 15th century its students numbered much more than a thousand, and its influence extended to See also:Scotland and the Scandinavian kingdoms . Its decline began, however, from the moment when the Catholic sentiment of the city closed it to the influence of the Reformers; the number of its students sank to vanishing point, and though, under the influence of the See also:Jesuits, it subsequently revived, it never recovered its old importance . A final See also:blow was dealt it when, in 1777, the enlightened archbishop Maximilian Frederick (d . 1784) founded the university of Bonn, and in 1798, amid the confusion of the revolutionary See also:epoch, it ceased to exist . The same intolerance that ruined the university all but ruined the city too . It is difficult, indeed, to blame the burghers for resisting the dubious reforming efforts of See also:Hermann of Wied, archbishop from 1515 to 1546, inspired mainly by secular ambitions; but the See also:expulsion of the See also:Jews in 1414, and still more the exclusion, under Jesuit influence, of Protestants from the right to acquire citizenship, and from the magistracy, dealt severe blows at the prosperity of the place . A variety of other causes contributed to its decay: the opening up of new trade routes, the See also:gradual ossification of the gilds into close and corrupt corporations, above all the See also:wars in the Netherlands, the Thirty Years' War, and the Wars of the See also:Spanish and See also:Austrian Succession . When in 1794 Cologne was occupied by the French, it was a poor and decayed city of some 40,000 inhabitants, of whom only 6000 possessed civic rights . When, in 18os, by the treaty of See also:Luneville, it was incorporated in France, it was not important enough to be more than the chief town of an See also:arrondissement . On the death of the last elector in ,8o, the archiepiscopal see was left vacant . With the See also:assignment of the city to Prussia by the congress of Vienna in 1815 a new era of prosperity began . The university, indeed, was definitively established at Bonn, but the archbishopric was restored (1821) as part of the new ecclesiastical organization of Prussia, and the city became the seat of the See also:president of a governmental See also:district . Its prosperity now rapidly increased; when railways were introduced it became the meeting-place of several lines, and in 1881 its growth necessitated the pushing outward of the circle of fortifications . See L . Ennen, Gesch. der Stadt Koln (5 vols., Cologne, 1863–1880) to 1648, and Frankreich and der Niederrhein (2 vols., ib., 1855, 1856), a history of the city and electorate of Cologne since the Thirty Years' War; R . See also:Schultze and C . Steuernagel, Colonia Agrippinensis (Bonn, 1895) ; K . Heldmann, Der Kolngau and See also:die Civitas Koln (See also:Halle, 1900) ; L . Korth, Koln im Mittelalter (Cologne, 1890) ; F . Lau, Entwickelung der kommunalen Verfassung der Stadt Koln bis zum Jahre 1396 (Bonn, 1898) ; K . See also:Hegel, Steidle and Gilden der Ermanischen Volker im Mittelalter (2 vols., See also:Leipzig, 1891), H. p . 323; . Keussen, Historiscke Topographie der Stadt Koln im Mittelalter (Bonn, 1906) ; W . Behnke, Aus Kans . Franzosenzeit (Cologne, 1901) ; Helmken, Koln and See also:seine Sehenswurdigkeiten (20th ed., Cologne, 1903) . For See also:sources see L . Ennen and G . Eckertz, Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Koln (6 vols., Cologne, 186o–1879); later sources will be found in U . See also:Chevalier, Repertoire See also:des sources hist . Topo-bibliographie (See also:Montbeliard, 1894-1899), S.V . Cologne, which gives also a full See also:list of works on everything connected with the city; also in See also:Dahlmann-See also:Waitz, Quellenkunde (ed . Leipzig, 1906), p . 17, Nos . 252, 253 . For the archdiocese and electorate of Cologne see Binterim and Mooren, Die Erzdiozese Koln bis zur franzosischen Staatsumwalzung, new ed. by A . Mooren in 2 vols . (Dusseldorf, 1892, 1893) . |
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