Page 535 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

GERM AN Y  533

Cologne and the Rhine
Valley, the modern Römisch-
Germanisches Museum
displays Roman weapons,
tools, and decorative objects,
as well as the superb Dionysus
mosaic from around 250 BC.
The Museum Ludwig
boasts one of Europe’s best
The Baroque Elector’s palace, housing Bonn University collections of modern art.
f Bonn A Neanderthal skull is also exhi- German Expressionists,
Surrealists, and American
North Rhine-Westphalia. * 320,000. bited here. The Kunstmuseum Pop Artists are all represented.
k £ @ n Windeckstraße 1 Bonn, a museum of modern The Romans built a sports
(0228-77 50 00). ∑ bonn.de art, has a superb display of arena on the site now occupied
Expressionist paintings. by the 12th-century Groß St.
There has been a crossing over Martin. Remains of the baths
the Rhine at Bonn since pre- g Cologne have been uncovered
Roman times, but the settlement underneath the crypt.
first rose to prominence under North Rhine-Westphalia. Cologne’s Rathaus (Town
the Archbishops of Cologne in * 1,045,000. k £ @ n Unter Hall) is an irregular-shaped
the 13th century. Bonn was the Fettenhennen 19 (0221-22 13 04 00). building, the result of
capital of the Federal Republic ∑ koelntourismus.de successive modifications after
of Germany between 1949 1330. Under a glass pyramid at
and 1991. Originally founded by the the front are the remains of
The central market square Romans, Cologne (Köln) is one 12th-century Jewish baths.
is surrounded by a mixture of the oldest settlements in Highlights of the late-Gothic
of modern and Baroque Germany. Present-day Cologne Church of St. Peter, built in
architecture, including the late- is an important ecclesiastical 1515–39, are its stained-glass
Baroque Rathaus (Town Hall), and cultural center, boasting 12 windows and the magnificent
built in 1737–8. Just north of Romanesque churches and the Crucifixion of St. Peter (c.1637)
the market square stands the famous cathedral (see pp534–5), by Peter Paul Rubens.
18th-century Baroque house as well as several excellent The southern chamber
where Beethoven was born. museums, historic buildings, of the Church of St. Ursula
The Beethovenhaus is now a and superb galleries. is lined with many shrines.
museum housing an impressive The Wallraf-Richartz- According to legend, they
collection of memorabilia. Museum contains 14th- to hold the remains of St. Ursula
Bonn has many fine museums. 19th-century paintings and 11,000 virgins, reputedly
The Rheinisches Landes- organized by the schools of art killed by the Huns.
museum has a vast collection of they represent. Featured artists
archaeological exhibits dating include Rubens, Dürer, Munch, E Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
back to Roman times, as well and Max Liebermann. Housing Obenmarspforten. Tel 0221-22 12 11
as medieval and modern art. archaeological finds from 19. Open Tue–Sun. &

The city of Cologne, viewed from the Rhine

532-533_EW_Europe.indd 533 14/07/16 10:10 am