Headline, March08, 2013

'''COLOGNE : 

GERMANY'S CULTURAL CAPITAL'''

Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city, feels more comfortably European than the big three  -Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. With the Dutch, Belgian and French borders within easy reach, and with the channel tunnel, it is just six hours away from London. Cologne is a modern, mid-European metropolis, that doesn't brag about being so. Content to be at the heart of things, Cologne people feel more at him with their city than with their country.

Cologne is a single letter city. The things that make it special begin  -like its German name, Koln  -with ''K'' : Kolsch, the local brew; Karneval (carnival) an obsession which explodes on to the streets in February; Kunst (art), its galleries and museums giving Cologne a fine-arts profile on par with New York and Tokyo, and Kirche (Church)  -Catholicism has dominated the city's identity for centuries. 

Rising like holy rockets from the riverbank, and dominating the skyline, are the twin Gothic spires of the Dom cathedral  -one of Germany's most distinctive and historic edifices. Its undercroft contains the remains of a Roman villa and the dark-age emperor Charlemagne's palace. The symbolic importance of the Dom falls into vivid perspective from the vantage of the Wasserturm: while it towers of the city, other spires stand all around. Cologne is, crucially a church city, though not one of the dozens of them you see is original. Ninety per cent of Cologne was destroyed in the war. The only church left more or less intact was the Dom.

Cologne's most unusual church has to be the Kunst Station St Peter. This is a Romanesque church-gallery just off the busy tram junction, There are more than 100 galleries in the city and over 3000 tax paying artists. Wallraf-Richartz-Ludwig Museum complex next to the Dom houses one of Europe's richest collections. Next to that is the Roman German Museum  -Cologne was the largest Roman city in Northern Europe, established in 50AD by the empress Agrippina.

Almost every tradition in Cologne remains untouched. During Karneval, the city shuts down. For five days before Lent, parades, fancy dresses, drumming and dancing grip the city in an outburst of civic mayhem. It's been going for centuries, and probably dates back to Roman times. Karneval took its present form,  -with various ''official'' events   -as opposed to mere anarchy  -in 1823.

''Rosenmontag''    -Rose Monday, -ladies and gentlemen- is when all of Cologne takes to the streets dressed in costumes which have been thought about for months. And believe me, Anything goes!!

With respectful dedication to all the students and Professors of Germany.Please help contribute content and join up on !WOW!. And dedication to the giants: Siemens, Sap. Mercedes, BMW, VW and on and on. 

Loving and fond cuddles Tanvir Querishi and Jamila Querishi..

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless