Germany is a kaleidoscope of eras, politics and cultures. Part 4. Cologne - a pearl on the Rhine
Cologne - a city in North Rhine-Westphalia - the fourth largest city in Germany (1.017 million - 2012) and the third largest city in Germany, as well as one of the largest economic and cultural centers of the country. This city, which arose on the site of the Roman settlement "Colonia", from which it received its name, was founded in 38 BC. e.
We stopped in this city for a couple of hours, with the main goal of seeing its symbol - the Gothic Cologne Cathedral (German K? lner Dom) or the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Mary with two spiers 157 m high, magnificent stained-glass windows and the tombs of the three wise men who brought gifts baby Jesus.
If you approach the Cologne Cathedral, you can see that constant archaeological research is being carried out on the territory adjacent to it. Experts have long proved that the place on which the Cologne Cathedral was built was considered holy 600 years before the Savior came to our world.
As a result of excavations, the ruins of ancient temples were found, which were built in honor of the pagan gods. However, even after the arrival of Christians in Cologne, various churches were constantly built on the site of the Cologne Cathedral, many of which were subsequently destroyed or burned.
In front of the western faç ade and at the main entrance to Cologne Cathedral, there is a Kreuzblume sculpture. This is a copy of the tip of the Cologne Cathedral, made in the original size, but in concrete. The tips of the cathedral were made in the middle of the 19th century and are located. A decorative copy from October 11.1991 is located in front of the cathedral. Sculpture Kreuzblume - model of the Southern Cross. It is made in 1:1 scale. The figure is 15.24 meters high and weighs 35 tons. The sculpture was assembled from 13 pieces of dark gray painted concrete. All parts, with the exception of leaves, are made in the form of a hollow body with a wall thickness of 15 to 20 centimeters to reduce weight.
A flower garden is laid out around the sculpture, and explanatory notes in 15 languages are installed on its lower part.
The construction of the Cathedral began in 1248, however, the work was completed only in 1880. The cathedral was built on the site where Christian meetings were held in the late Roman Empire. Cologne Cathedral miraculously survived World War II. Its height is 144 m and its width is 86 m. Hundreds of sculptures were made to decorate the facade, towers and portals, huge bronze gates were cast for the portals.
The interior of the cathedral has also expanded. The highest quality of all the works carried out in the 19th century turned the cathedral into one of the greatest neo-Gothic masterpieces. The treasury of the Cologne Cathedral is the most significant in Europe, surpassing in importance even the treasury of the Vatican.
Especially famous is the Gero cross - a painted wooden crucifix, commissioned by the Archbishop of Cologne Gero around 975. Death on the cross is conveyed very realistically, which was a real revelation for that time.
But the main value of the Cologne Cathedral is, of course, the chest of the three kings, which contains the relics of the three holy kings (three magi): Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar - the largest golden sarcophagus in Western Europe.
For the glazing of the windows, many square meters of stained-glass windows were required, which especially struck me. They are so beautiful and contain so much interesting information that they deserve special attention and study.
There is a legend that when the construction of the Cathedral is completed, it will collapse. Apparently, therefore, construction has not stopped here since the 13th century, and restoration work is being carried out all the time.
And during the Second World War, when the city was bombed, the Cathedral turned out to be the only building that the shells bypassed. Not because the British and American pilots felt sorry for this symbol of the former greatness of the city. Just a huge building served as a good landmark in a city turned into ruins. Currently K? lner Dom, which ranks third in the list of the tallest churches in the world, is under the auspices of UNESCO.
Having examined the famous cathedral and the square adjacent to it, we went for a short walk around the central part of the city. Crossing Roncalliplatz from the south side of the cathedral along the Domhotel, we approach the Heinzelmennchen fountain most beloved by Cologne, which was created at the very end of the 19th century, the authors - father and son - Edmund Renard and Heinrich Renard.
The reason for its creation was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the German poet August Kopisch. It was he who wrote the poem entitled "Die Heinzelm? nnchen zu K?
ln", the plot of which the sculptors reflected in their work, which tells how the inhabitants of the city became industrious. Here is a summary of the poem: "Once the gnomes and the inhabitants of Cologne lived side by side. The first completed for the second all the work that they did not have time to do in a day, at night. And the inhabitants of Cologne promised never to strive to see the gnomes. And the people of Cologne lived like this for quite a long time and it would have continued further, if not for one very curious woman, the wife of a tailor. She certainly wanted to see the hard-working dwarfs and had already made more than one attempt for this, but everything was unsuccessful. In the end, she came up with the following: after scattering dry peas on the stairs, she began to descend rather noisily into the basement, where at that time the little helpers of Cologne were working. They heard sounds, tried to run away, but slipped on peas and fell down the stairs. The curious woman got her way.
After this incident, the gnomes left Cologne, and the inhabitants of the city have since been forced to do all the work on their own. "The fountain is quite large in size. In the central part you can see a sculpture of that very curious woman. She stands at the top of the stairs and holds a lantern in her hand. fallen angry gnomes lie on the stairs. Two "wings" decorated with reliefs extend from the central part. There are eight of them in total: six show scenes of how the gnomes helped the Cologne people: a tailor, a carpenter, a baker, a butcher, a winemaker and a carpenter. And two more have lines from Poems by August Kopisz.
As in any self-respecting German city, Cologne has a Town Hall and, of course, the Town Hall Square. Among the premises of the Town Hall there is a huge, very beautiful hall, where city balls have long been held, decorated with sculptural images of the townspeople who glorified Cologne. Among them is the author of Capital, Karl Marx.
The construction of the city hall began in the first half of the 14th century and continued until the beginning of the 15th century, as the fire devastated this area of the city. This era includes the Hanseatic Hall, where assemblies were held during the Hanseatic period, and a large tower in the Flamboyant Gothic style. In the 16th century, the Court of Lions was built and the facade was created in the Renaissance style. The tower of the Cologne City Hall was decorated with decorative sandstone figures, which, under the influence of weathering, completely collapsed over several centuries. In 1800, the sculptures were replaced with new ones, but already at the beginning of the 20th century, 80 figures were replaced again. During the Second World War, the figures were again lost, and between 1988 and 1995.124 new sculptures were installed. In 1945, the bombings did not spare the Town Hall and it took more than 20 years to restore it.
In front of the Town Hall there is a monument that deserves special attention.
During the carnival, the saga about the hero of the 30-year war, Jan von Werth, is very popular. The legend says that he was a very poor young man who fell in love with the first beauty of Cologne - Magd Griet. The beauty refuses the poor guy, and out of grief he signs up for the war, where he showed unheard-of courage and rose to the rank of equestrian general. After the war, he returns in triumph to Cologne, where he meets his old love, who became a vegetable merchant, just at this place. He got off his horse and took off his hat, asked her: "What have you done ... " - to which his first love replied: "Yes, if only you knew! ". The general mounted his horse and rode away.
On the opposite side of the square is a magnificent equestrian statue, which was erected at the end of the 19th century according to the design of the sculptor and architect Gustav Blaser. On a stone pedestal stands a proud black horse, on which the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III sits majestically.
On the sides of the pedestal are bronze figures of prominent political figures of that era. After World War II, the badly damaged sculpture was dismantled. Only in 2009, after a long restoration, the monument again took its original place.
All the most interesting things in this city are located on a small patch. The city hall and the old square Alter Markt are 800 meters from the station, a little further the Church of St. Martin (among the inhabitants of Germany, it is better known as Great St. Martin). It was created by the Benedictine monks between 953 and 965. During the Second World War, the church was destroyed several times by bombing, but was immediately restored. At the end of the war, there was talk of leaving it in ruins as a memorial to the victims of Nazism. However, this beautiful German landmark was restored and opened to visitors in 1985.
The monument to the funny fairy tale characters Tunnes and the Rock is installed on the Old Square and is one of the symbols of Cologne. The dodgy and cunning deceiver Skal and the ingenuous lout Tunnes never existed in reality. These are dolls, the heroes of the performances of Johan Winter, who created the textbook couple back in the first half of the 19th century. Over time, Tynnes and Skal “left the people” from the theatrical stage: in Cologne, there are still jokes among people about “thick” and “thin”, “long” and “squat”, “city dweller” and “hillbilly”. The sculptures of Wolfgang Reuter immortalized the heroes of urban legends in bronze. Now residents of the city and tourists come to “visit” Tyunnes and Skal: there is a belief that if you rub their noses (preferably at the same time) and make a wish, then it will come true. The noses of the statues, as usual, are polished to a shine.
The Fountain of Women was presented to Cologne by the sculptor Anneliese Lagenbach.
It represents female figures placed around a round column set in a small reservoir in the shape of a shamrock. The bas-relief depicts women who lived in the city during different periods of its 2000-year history: Roman women, representatives of Germanic tribes, Jews, modern Germans. The fountain symbolizes, on the one hand, the historical relationship between people of different generations, on the other hand, the value of a woman in society: each of the figures holds in her hands her gift to the city: flowers, fruits, food, fabrics. In the arms of many women are small children - young citizens of Cologne. Nearby is another nice monument to the musician.
Cologne House 4711 is the most famous museum shop in Cologne, where you can buy cologne 4711. It is located on Glockenstrasse. Cologne ("Eau de cologne") literally translates as "water from Cologne".
Fragrant water appeared on the market in 1709 thanks to Johan Maria Farina, who discovered Cologne as a city of aromas to the whole world. His perfume company is the oldest in the world. Later, other shops and factories followed suit and began producing and selling eau de cologne. But the most famous store is undoubtedly the 4711 Cologne House. The famous "eau de cologne" flows from the faucet of fountain 4711.
A tapestry measuring 4.5x3.5 m is hung in the trading floor, which depicts the moment when a French soldier puts the number 4711 on the wall of a house on Glockengasse street. The tapestry was created in 1964 for the re-opening of the house after restoration with a historic facade.
Cologne's main shopping street Hohe Strasse is located in the heart of the Old Town.
On both sides of it there are a wide variety of shops and shops where you can find excellent Cologne souvenirs. Since I am not a big fan of shopping, I decided to spend the rest of my free time on the embankment of the Rhine River. On the way to it, I went to Cologne Central Station, located directly opposite the Cathedral. The station building is quite beautiful and modern. The Cologne Cathedral is clearly visible from the station.
I approach the embankment of the main navigable river in Germany. The name Rhine comes from the Celtic language and means "flow". From 50 B. C. e. until the 4th century AD e. it formed, together with the Danube, a large part of the northern border of the Roman Empire. The Rhine originates in the Swiss Alps and after 1320 km flows into the North Sea in the Netherlands. The most picturesque section of the river is between Mainz and Cologne (Middle Rhine), with picturesque and romantic fortresses.
During the bombing of Cologne by British aircraft, it was badly damaged, and in March 1945 it was completely destroyed as a result of undermining the supports. The restoration of the building began immediately after the war, the movement was resumed in 1948. It was decided not to restore the towers at the entrance to the bridge, and in 1958 they were completely dismantled. On both sides of the Hohenzollern Bridge, beautiful equestrian statues of German emperors from the Hohenzollern dynasty - Wilhelm I, Friedrich III, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Wilhelm II, as well as monuments of Prussian kings were installed.
Unusual fountains are located right on the embankment, where it is so pleasant for both old and young people to refresh their tired legs in the hot season.
Opposite the embankment, I noticed a building with an inscription, but I'm not sure that this is the Cologne Opera.
There are many different berths on the embankment, from which pleasure and regular boats depart.
If there was time, I would gladly take a cruise on the Rhine, but for now I had only to confine myself to the purchased booklet in Russian with a description and photographs of "Along the Rhine" and wave my hand to the ship setting sail.
Finishing my story about Cologne, I cannot but mention one important event for the city, which, unfortunately, I did not have a chance to participate in. The five carnival days (the carnival season starts every year on 11.11 at 11:11 a. m. ) that precede the long fast before Easter are considered a special time of the year in Cologne and the city becomes a place of pilgrimage for millions of tourists from all over the world. At this time, both people and streets are transformed. On November 11, the famous Cologne Carnival takes place here, the tradition of which dates back to the Middle Ages. The celebration opens with the "Three Crazy Days" leading up to the famous Pink Monday. It is on this day that the holiday reaches its highest point.
It is said that a million people walk the streets of the city at this time. The celebration continues until dawn. If you suddenly couldn’t get a clown costume, a witch, etc. , but don’t want to stand out from the crowd, put on at least a pot before going out. It is especially recommended to observe this rule on Thursday if you do not want to be ridiculed. Newspapers publish in advance the routes along which the procession will take place.
The old Roman proverb “He who has not been to Cologne has not seen Germany” is quite true for our time. For me, Cologne is associated with the Phoenix rising from the ashes.
About the country, its history and people
The history of Germany is very rich and rich, I will give only a brief outline of it and the same cursory review of the historical processes that took place on the territory of the modern Federal Republic of Germany. In German, the state is called "Deutschland", which comes from pragerms. ?
eodisk, which originally meant "related to the people" and meant primarily the language, and "Land" - "country". The modern form of writing the name of the state has been used since the 15th century. The basis of the German ethnos was the ancient Germanic tribal associations that inhabited the territory between the Rhine and the Oder at the beginning of our era - Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Alemans, etc. , who assimilated in the first centuries AD. e. the local population, including the Romanized Celts in the southwest and south of modern Germany, and also mixed with the Rhets in the Alps. In 843, as a result of the division of the Frankish Empire, the East Frankish kingdom was formed, which in the 10th century was called Teutonic (after the ethnonym of the ancient Germanic tribe of the Teutons).
Traditionally, the founding date of the German state is considered to be February 2.962: on this day, the East Frankish king Otto I was crowned in Rome and became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire was a confederation of lands, each of the lands had its own army and minted its own coin. At the head of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation or the First Reich (962-1806) was the Kaiser, elected by the council of electors, there was a body representing the lands - the Reichstag. In the X-XIII centuries, the German ethnos included some West Slavic and Letto-Lithuanian tribes (polabs, Prussians, etc. ), whose lands were seized by German feudal lords.
In 1871, the unification of Germany under the auspices of Prussia took place and the formation of the German nation was basically completed. This period is called the Second Reich or "Kaiser's Germany" (1871-1918).
Participation in the formation of the German ethnic group of heterogeneous elements and the long fragmentation of the country led to the preservation of the cultural and everyday identity of the population of individual lands. There are Bavarians, Saxons, Hessians, Swabians, Franconians, Mecklenburgers, etc. as separate sub-ethnic groups. In 1914, Germany entered the First World War, the defeat in which led to the cessation of the existence of the monarchy. West Prussia and Poznan went to Poland, Alsace to France, Eupen to Belgium, Saar was granted independence, German military units were withdrawn from the Rhine Province.
After the defeat in World War II, the Third Reich (the unofficial name of the German state from March 24.1933 to May 23.1945) was liquidated, the state independence of the lands was restored, power was taken away from the state governors and transferred to the restored Landtags, and before their election - to temporary assemblies . East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Western Pomerania were liquidated, their territories were divided between the USSR and Poland, the Germans from these territories, as well as from the Sudetenland, were deported, and these territories themselves were settled by Poles, Russians, Czechs, the independence of Luxembourg was restored, the Sudetenland was returned to Czechoslovakia, Eupen - Belgium, South Tyrol - Italy, Alsace was transferred to France. Occupation troops remained on the territory of the remaining German-speaking states.
Four zones of occupation were formed to control the occupying forces: French, which included the southern part of Wü rttemberg, the southern part of Baden and the southern part of the Rhineland and the Palatinate; British (northern part of the Rhineland, Westphalia, Hanover, Braunschweig, Oldenburg, Schaumburg-Lippe); American (Bavaria, Hesse, the northern part of Baden and the northern part of Wü rttemberg; Soviet (Saxony, Halle-Merseburg, Magdeburg, Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania). The independent Republic of Germany (FRG), in the Soviet - the German Democratic Republic (GDR) On October 3.1990, they merged into a single Federal Republic of Germany.
Currently, Germany, the official name of which is the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), with a population of 80 million people (2014) ranks 16th in the world, the territory is 35.021 km? (62nd) is the largest country in Central Europe. Germany is a member of the European Union and NATO and is a member of the G8. The country has one of the highest GDP per capita - $ 41.477 (2013). Germany is a state with a federal structure: it consists of 16 equal subjects - lands, three of them are cities (Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg). The form of government in Germany is a parliamentary republic. Angela Merkel (CDU) has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005.
Germany has everything a tourist needs - magical landscapes, cozy towns, magnificent castles and historical legends.
Germany is a country, coming to which every time you want to discover new pages of its history, the character and traditions of its inhabitants, the incomparable contrast of rural nature and the bustling everyday life of large cities. The careful attitude of the people of Germany to their historical and architectural monuments inspires respect and admiration, gives an example to follow.
