Cologne (German: [kœln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is, inside terms of people, a quaternary big city in Germany and the big city of the German province of North Rhine-Westphalia. These are better known for its Cathedral, its uniquely brewed Kölsch beer, the original Eau de Cologne, and its celebration of Carnival and Christopher Street Day.

These are one of a first German inl& ports, & considered a economic, ethnic, and historic capital of the Rhineland. These are a 16th largest city in the European Union. At a prevent of 2004, Cologne's people was 969,709, using the standard method of sole counting souls whose primary home (German: Hauptwohnsitz) was in the city. A city of Cologne includes people sustaining non-primary residences (German: Nebenwohnsitz) inside its figure, raising it to 1,022,627.

Its location at a intersection of the flow of any stream Rhine (German: Rhein) with one of a major trade routes between eastern & american Europe was a foundation of Cologne's commercial importance. In the Middle Ages it also became an ecclesiastic centre of significance & an crucial centre of arts & education. Cologne was devastated by the Allies during World War II, by the prevent of which 99% of Cologne's Jewish people experienced been annihilated.

Cologne has of these university, which has around 49,000 students (fall semester 2004/2005) & is far-famed for its political economy program. Additionally to the university, it has iii colleges. Fachhochschule Köln (University of Applied Sciences of Cologne), with its 18,000 students, is the large college around Germany. The amount of 70,000 students learn within Cologne.

Cologne is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese. Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom), a Gothic church, was completed in 1848.

Within 1996, it was designated the World Heritage site; it is a city's major landmark & unofficial symbol, & claims to home a relics of the Three Kings. A city is 43% Roman Catholic & 18% Protestant, when 39% of the people professes more religions or even none. Until World War II & a following run of urbanisation and inflow of refugees from either Eastern Germany, Roman Catholics comprised the huge majority of Cologne's residents, & a Catholic ethnic influence is strongly present in a city now, particularly on the celebration of Carnival.

Cologne has 31 museums. Exhibits range from either archeologic findings to contemporary painting. Alongside the constituted stores of art is a thriving arts scene, represented each year at "Art Cologne", Germany's large arts fair.

the city plays a predominate role within Germany's television industry. These are house to Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) - the large branch of Germany's foremost public broadcaster ARD - since 1926 [http://www.wdr.de/unternehmen/basis_struktur/geschichte/1920.jhtml]. Whenever a market wwhen opened for commercial tv station within Germany in the Eighties, Cologne established itself as residence base for many of people stations, RTL being the large & commercially virtually all successful a single. Now, Cologne is page to the wide range of television & film production corporations, possibly though Berlin has attracted parts of the industry when re-reunion.

Cologne has an active gay scene and has long been known for its real life-running, tolerant attitudes. A city occurs as fastness of Germany's gay movement & a headquarters of Germany's big homophile & lesbian lobby class action. Although Berlin receives supplementary international attention, Cologne however hosts Germany's large Gay Pride event known as Christopher Street Day.

20% of Cologne's people is non-German. 40% one (or even 8% of the sum people) come Turkish.

Cologne is easily known for its beer, known as Kölsch. Kölsch is as well a title of the local idiom. This has led to the most common joke that Kölsch is the sole language that you potty ingest.

A more liquid that Cologne is celebrated for is Eau de Cologne. At a beginning of the 18th century, Italian exile Johann Maria Farina (1685-1766) created a fresh fragrance & known as it fallowing his hometown Cologne, Eau de Cologne (H2o from either Cologne). In the course of the 18th century the fragrance became increasingly popular. At length, Cologne merchandiser Wilhelm Mülhens secured the title Farinthe, which at that instance experienced get a personal title for Eau de Cologne, under contract & opened a little manufactory at Cologne's Glockengasse. Inside late years & under pressure of court battles his grandson Ferdinand Mülhens chose a recently title for the house & their product. It was a home total that was given to the manufactory at Glockengasse when you took French occupation of the Rhineland in the early 19th century, number 4711. Around 1994, the Mülhens personal sold their company to German Wella corporation. In todays world, original Eau de Cologne (German: Kölnisch Wasser) however is produced around Cologne by each a Farina personal (Farina gegenüber since 1709), presently in the eighth generation, & by Procter & Gamble who took over Wella in 2003.

Around 2005 Cologne hosted one of the largest-ever meetings of Catholic youth. A 20th World Youth Day took place from Monday, August 15, until Sunday, August 21 and over the million population celebrated mass (vigil) at Marienfeld (Mary's Field) in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

Geography

A city covers astir 405.15 km² (about 156 miles²), is located at , and is between 37.5 and 118.04 m above sea level. Its car registration prefix is 1000.

The Coat of Arms of Cologne

Coat of Arms of Cologne

A ternary crowns symbolise a Magi or Three Kings whose bones are said to become saved within the golden sarcophagus in the Cathedral (see Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral). Within 1164, Cologne's archbishop Rainald of Dassel brought the relics to the city, making it a major pilgrim's journey destination.

the eleven fire come a reminder of the Britannic princess St. Ursula and her legendary 11,000 virgin companions who were supposedly martyred by Attila the Hun at Cologne for their Christian faith in 383 A.D. Actually, a cortege of St. Ursula & a total of hikers was probably significantly little.

History

Independent article: History of Cologne

Cologne became the city within 50 A.D., had the bishop as early as 313, and, within 785, became the seat of an archbishop. A Archbishop of Cologne was one of the vii Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled the big front yard as a lay lord in the Middle Ages, but inside 1288 he was defeated by the Cologne citizens & forced to move to Bonn. Cologne was the member of the Hanseatic League, but became the free city officially only by 1475.

Cologne misused its loose status, & regained its archbishopric when you took a French cycle, &, around 1815, at the Congress of Vienna was made a portion of the kingdom of Prussia. Cologne became an industrial city, & a todays cathedral, started around 1248 but abandoned around the mid-1500s, was eventually finished in 1880.

In a period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Cologne incorporated numerous encompassing towns, & per period of World War I had already grown to 600,00Dweller. Within World War II, it was repeatedly bombed, and lot of the city was inside ruins. It took occasionally instance to rebuild a city, however subsequently it grew once agaaround, &, in 1975, reached 1 million dweller for astir 1 month.

City Partnerships

By merging inside more cities & communes, Cologne took on top their partnerships, by using a charted: Benfleet/Castle Point (England), Igny (France), Diepenbeek (Belgium), Brive-la-Gaillarde (France), Dunstable (England), Eygelshoven (Netherlands) and Hazebrouck (France).

Buildings and Places of Interest in Cologne
Inside 310 Constantine builds a bridge over the Rhine at Cologne. Cologne Cathedral (der Kölner Dom) is the city's illustrious landmark. University of Cologne Fragrance-Museum Farina Home, a birthplace of Eau de Cologne. Wallraf-Richartz Museum Museum Ludwig Römisch-Germanisches Museum (English: Roman-Germanic Museum) Kölner Philharmonie (English: Cologne Philharmonics) Ford Motor Company plants, assembling the Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion as well as manufacturing engines & area. RheinEnergieStadion, the major Cologne association football sports stadium, seating 50,997 visitant around national games & 46,134 around international games, residence to the local Bundesliga team, 1.FC Köln, and to the local NFL Europe team, the Cologne Centurions. Kölnarenthe, a multifunctional arena, front yard to the local ice hockey team, the Kölner Haie (English: Cologne Sharks). Kölnturm (English: Cologne Tower), with 150 metres around height Cologne's 2nd tallest building, 2nd lone to the cathedral. Colonius - a telecommunication tower sustaining an observation deck. Colonia-Hochhaus - German's tallest building, in which population survive. Rheinseilbahn - an aerial tramway crossing the Rhine. Messeturm Köln (English: Fair/Exhibition Tower Cologne). Hohe Strasse (literally: 'main street') is one of a independent searching areas & extends retiring a cathedral inside an roughly southern counsel. This street is particularly popular by having holidaymaker & contains several giftshops, haberdashery, convenient food eating place & electronic goods dealers / a region in the area of Apostelnstrasse, Ehrenstrasse, & Rudolfplatz, then again, occurs as little extra on the eccentric & stylish side & far extra interesting than Hohe Strasse. Historic Ringe avenue (like Hohenzollernring, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring, Hansaring) by having their mediaeval city gates (like Hahnentorburg in Rudolfplatz) come as well known for their nightlife.

Legalities

Cologne is the exclusively city inside Germany by having an expressed revenue enhancement in prostitution and other sex businesses. View a article in prostitution in Germany for details.

Born in Cologne
Joost van den Vondel (17 november 1587 - 5 february 1679), poet and playwright Jacques Offenbach (20 june 1819 - 5 october 1880) composer Konrad Adenauer (5 january 1876 - 19 april 1967) politician and German Chancellor between 1949 and 1963 Willy Millowitsch (8 january 1909 – 20 september 1999), actor and playwright Heinrich Böll (21 december 1917 - 16 july 1985) writer and winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1972 Udo Kier (born 14 October, 1944), actor