Cologne - Hansaring

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

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During WWII Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids. The first ever 1,000 bomber raid by the RAF ("Operation Millenium") was conducted on Cologne in May 1942. In April 1945, when the American armee reached Cologne, the city was completely ruined. About 90% of all houses in the inner city were - gone. In 1939 Cologne had had a population of more than 700.00. In spring 1945 there were only about 40.000, living in the ruins. So the very most houses and facades in the ctity of Cologne are - young.

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This well restored pre-war facade at Hansaring is embellished with two "Heinzelmännchen".

These house gnomes appear in an old Cologe tale. They once did all the work of the citizens during nighttime, so that the people in Cologne could be lazy during the day. According to the legend, this went on until a tailor's wife got so curious to see the gnomes that she scattered peas onto the floor of the workshop, so the gnomes slipped and fell. The "Heinzelmännchen", being infuriated, disappeared and never returned. From that night on, the citizens had to do all their work by themselves.