The City Hall () is a historical building in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, western Germany. It is located off Hohe Straße in the district of Innenstadt, and set between the two squares of Rathausplatz and

Alter Markt Alter may refer to: Computing and technology * ALTER, a command in older implementations of COBOL * Alter (SQL), a command in a data definition language within SQL Music * ''Alter'' (album), 2002 album by Floater * ''Alter'', a 2006 remix alb ...

. It houses part of the city government, including the city council and offices of the

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

. It is Germany's oldest

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

with a documented history spanning some 900 years. The history of its council during the 11th century is a prominent example for self-gained municipal autonomy of Medieval cities. Today's building complex consists of several structures, added successively in varying architectural styles: they include the 14th century historic town hall, the 15th century Gothic style tower, the 16th century

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style loggia and cloister (the Löwenhof), and the 20th century

Modern Movement Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

atrium (the Piazzetta). The so-called Spanischer Bau is an extension on Rathausplatz but not directly connected with the main building.

History

The City Hall is located on the site of the former Ancient Roman

Praetorium The Latin term ''praetorium'' (also and ) originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman '' castrum'' (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate.Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roma ...

, which until the year 475 was seat of the

Roman Governor A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many Roman province, provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was ''re ...

Germania Inferior ''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

kings are known to have used the praetorium as a ''

regia The Regia ("Royal house") was a two-part structure in Ancient Rome lying along the Via Sacra at the edge of the Roman Forum that originally served as the residence or one of the main headquarters of kings of Rome and later as the office of the ...

'' until 754, however the building was ultimately destroyed by an earthquake in the late 8th century. Under

Hildebold of Cologne Hildebold (died 3 September 818) was the Bishop of Cologne from 787 until 795 and the first Archbishop of Cologne thereafter. A friend of Charlemagne, in 791 Hildebold was made the archchaplain and chancellor of the Carolingian Empire, Imperial ...

, the city was elevated from a bishop's to an archbishop's see in 795, and the area around the former praetorium has become home to both a group of wealthy Patrician merchants and Cologne's Jewish community, many of whom were under

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

granted by the king. With Emperor

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

's younger brother

Bruno the Great Bruno the Great (May 925 – 11 October 965) was the archbishop of Cologne''Religious Drama and Ecclesiastical Reform in the Tenth Century'', James H. Forse, ''Early Theatre'', Vol. 5, No. 2 (2002), 48. from 953 until his death and the duke of ...

becoming archbishop in 953, the

Ottonian dynasty The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxons, Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German ...

established a secular government by an ecclesiastic archbishop. This abundance of power in

Medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

was in stark confrontation to the emerge of emancipating burghers: armed conflicts in 1074 and 1096 were followed by the formation of a '' commune'' and first municipal structures as a basis for urban autonomy. In order to consolidate their economic and political rights, Cologne burghers established

fraternities A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...

and trade

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

s (most notably the '' Richerzeche''). In the 1106 war of succession between

Emperor Henry V Henry V (; probably 11 August 1081 or 1086 – 23 May 1125) was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in ...

and his father

Emperor Henry IV Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy ...

, they took deliberate opposition to the archbishop, after which they gained benefit in regards to the city's territorial expansion over the following years. As – at the time – one of Europe's busiest trading ports and largest city in Germany, the population of Cologne gradually changed from a mainly feudal society to free citizens. Documents from the years 1135 and 1152, recorded "a house in which citizen convene", referring to the first established council hall, at the location of today's town hall. The

coat of arms of Cologne The coat of arms of Cologne may refer to the city's coat of arms or to that of the Elector and Archbishop of Cologne. The arms of the city have existed for some 1000 years and have changed several times during the history of Cologne. The first kno ...

, first mentioned in 1114, is Europe's oldest municipal coat of arms. By 1180, the citizens of Cologne won a legal battle against

Philip I, Archbishop of Cologne Philip I () (c. 1130 – 13 August 1191) was Archbishop of Cologne and Archchancellor of Italy from 1167 to 1191. He was the son of Count Goswin II of Heinsberg and Adelaide of Sommerschenburg. He received his ecclesiastical training in Cologne an ...

, for another extension of Cologne's city walls. With the

Battle of Worringen The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now part of Chorweiler, the northernmost borough (Stadtbezirk) of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succe ...

fought in 1288, Cologne became independent from the Electorate and on 9 September 1475 officially gained

Imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

as a free imperial city. In 1388

Pope Urban VI Pope Urban VI (; ; c. 1318 – 15 October 1389), born Bartolomeo Prignano (), was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside the College of Cardinals. His pontificate be ...

signed the charter for the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

, Europe's first university to have been established by citizenry. On 14 September 1396 the constitution of Cologne came into effect and the Cologne gaffs and guilds (''Gaffeln'' and ''Zünfte'') assumed power in the council. Following the tradition of

Roman consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

s, the council was headed by two elected

Burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch . In so ...

s (Mayors) until the year 1797, when council and constitution were replaced by the Napoleonic and later code civil. Since 1815 the city council is led by one Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor). During the

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

the entire city hall was destroyed except for the front portion and part of the tower, the remaining part being rebuilt in modern style.

Buildings and building components

Historic Town Hall

The oldest part of today's City Hall is the so-called ''Saalbau'' (i.e. roofed hall building), which replaced a previous Romanesque style council building of 1135 on the same location. The Saalbau dates back to 1330 and is named after the Hansasaal, a 30,0 by 7,6 metres large and up to 9,58 metres tall assembly hall and core of the entire Rathaus. The hall is named after the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

, which held an important summit in it on 19. November 1367. Noteworthy are stone figures of the

Nine Worthies The Nine Worthies are nine historical, scriptural, and legendary men of distinction who personify the ideals of chivalry established in the Middle Ages, whose lives were deemed a valuable study for aspirants to chivalric status. All were commonly ...

, the Emperor and the Privileges.

Tower

Commissioned by the Cologne guilds on 19 August 1406, the Gothic-style Ratsturm (Council tower) was built between 1407 and 1414 and reaches a height of 61 metres. It consists of five storeys and the so-called Ratskeller (Council cellar). Its purpose was mainly to store documents, but one of the lower floors also housed the Senatssaal (i.e. hall of the Cologne Senate). While being heavily damaged during the bombing of Cologne in World War II, the tower – including the many exterior stone figures – has been restored entirely. Curiously, beneath the statue of Konrad von Hochstaden, there is a

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

male character performing

autofellatio Autofellatio is a form of masturbation involving the oral stimulation of one’s own penis. Performing fellatio on oneself is rare due to the flexibility required. However, notable figures have publicly documented training methods through onl ...

. Four times daily, a

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

(German: ''

Glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

'') is played by the tower's bells. Rathaus_in_Köln.jpg, View with the tower prominent Rathausturm Köln - Konrad von Hochstaden - Gerhard Unmaze (6143-45).jpg, Konrad von Hochstaden statue atop an

-performing

Autofellatiating grotesque - Konrad von Hochstaden.jpg, Close-up of the puzzling von Hochstaden grotesque

Loggia

The Rathauslaube – as the

style

Loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

is called – is a replacement of a previous loggia on the same location. The council initiated a lengthy design process in 1557, which lasted until 1562. In July 1567 the council approved the design by Wilhelm Vernukken from

Kalkar Kalkar () is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inv ...

to be built, with construction lasting from 1569 to 1573.Isabelle Kirgus: Die Rathauslaube in Köln (1569–1573), Bouvier, Bonn, 2003 The loggia consists of a 2-storey, five-bay long and two-bay deep arcade, which functions as entrance to the councils main hall (Hansasaal) at ground level, and as balcony for the main hall on the upper floor. The balcony was used for public speeches throughout the year.

Piazzetta

Likened to a small piazza with various building making up the perimeter walls, the 900 square metre large and 12.6 metres tall atrium was built during the postwar restoration of the historic town hall.

Spanischer Bau

Built on the North-western side of Rathausplatz in the years 1608 to 1615, the city council commissioned the originally Dutch Renaissance style building for meetings and celebrations. The name emerged in reference to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

delegates at the building during the time of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–1648). However it was not in official use before the 19th century. After having been heavily damaged in 1942, the building was completely rebuilt in 1953.

References

External links

City of Cologne: Description of the history and architecture of the building

{{Authority control

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

City and town halls in Germany 12th century in the Holy Roman Empire 1130s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1135 establishments in Europe Innenstadt, Cologne Government of Cologne Renaissance architecture in Germany History of Cologne Loggias