Cologne - Aachener Strasse

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".

During WWII Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids. 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 most of the buildings in Cologne are pretty "young".

This well restored brick building (Aachener Str. 16) - just opposite the "Volksbuehne" (ex "Millowitsch Theater") - has an extravagant facade. I could not find out, who is depicted by the large figure. My first guess was Gambrinus, as his hand seems to hold a (beer-)glass, but at the moment I think it could be Arminius, who commanded the Germanic tribes when they crushed the Roman armee in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Arminius (= Hermann) became an emblem of the revival of German nationalism in the 19th century.