Cologne

Cologne is a big city in Germany. A wide river called the Rhine flows through it.

In German the city is called Köln.

Cologne, called Köln in German, is a city on the Rhine River in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The encyclopedia Universalis calls it the state's largest city, built above all on trade, at a crossing of the Rhine and a route running from west to east across Europe.

About a million people live there. North Rhine-Westphalia's statistics office estimated 1,025,523 at the end of 2025, a little more than the 1,017,355 counted in the 2022 census.

Universalis describes Cologne as a communications hub where the Rhine meets a west–east axis linking the Atlantic coast with the German–Polish plain, a city built mainly on commerce that never held a major political role except in Roman times. UrbanRail calls it Germany's fourth-largest city.

City Population, from the state statistics office, gives 1,017,355 people at the census of 15 May 2022 and an estimate of 1,025,523 for 31 December 2025, up from 953,551 at the end of 1990.

Cologne's cathedral is very, very tall. Its two towers are pointed at the top.

It took more than 600 years to build!

Work on Cologne's cathedral began in 1248, UNESCO says, and it was not completed until 1880. Over all those centuries, its builders kept to the original plans. Its front, with two towers, is 157 meters high, and the building is 144.5 meters long.

The cathedral's dark color comes from centuries of weather, soot and living things growing on the stone, the city's tourism office explains. Its windows cover more than 10,000 square meters, and about 100 people work every day to look after the building.

UNESCO's description gives a High Gothic, five-aisled building 144.5 m long, with a transept 86.25 m wide, a tower façade 157.22 m high and a nave 43.58 m high; its 19th-century builders followed the medieval forms faithfully, as a comparison with the original plan on parchment shows. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1996.

The tourism office counts about 300,000 tonnes of stone, mainly trachyte and sandstone with limestone sculptures, a black patina from weathering, soot and biofouling, more than 10,000 m² of windows, about 20,000 visitors a day and about 100 cathedral workshop staff who maintain it daily.

Every year Cologne has a big carnival. People dress up in costumes, and sweets are thrown from parade floats.

The city also has a museum all about chocolate!

Cologne's Carnival, sometimes called the 'fifth season' of the year, reaches its peak on the six days from Weiberfastnacht (Women's Carnival) to Violet Tuesday. The street carnival starts at 11:11 in the morning in the Old Market. The Rose Monday parade has rolled through the city since 1823; it is about 8 kilometers long, and around 300 tonnes of sweets are thrown to the crowds.

Beside the Rhine, the Chocolate Museum follows cocoa from a model cocoa tree and a 10-meter-high tropical house all the way to the chocolate factory.

The tourism office describes the six days from Weiberfastnacht to Violet Tuesday, with the street carnival opening in the Alter Markt at 11:11 a.m. on the Thursday and around 480 carnival associations in the city. The Rose Monday parade, rolling since 1823 with floats, foot groups, dance groups and bands, is about 8 km long, and around 300 tonnes of sweets and 300,000 flowers (Strüßjer) are thrown.

The Chocolate Museum on the Rhine presents 5,000 years of chocolate's cultural history on over 4,000 m², from a large cocoa tree model and a 10 m tropical house to the stock exchanges, transport and the factory.