History de COLOGNE

Julius Caesar conquers the Rhineland during the Gallic War. The Ubians, a Celto-Germanic people settled in the Cologne and Bonn regions, are allies of Rome.

Cologne founded as Oppidium Ubiorum. Bonn was also founded as a military camp protecting the Limes at the end of the 1st century BC. Tacitus later called the city Castra Bonnensia.

Cologne became a Roman colony, taking the name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium and becoming capital of the province of Lower Germania.

According to legend, Cassius and Florentinus, two Roman legionaries who had converted to Christianity, were executed in Bonn for refusing to fight against their co-religionists. Bonn's St. Martin's Cathedral stands on the site of their beheading, and today they are the city's patron saints.

Legend of the martyrdom of Saint Ursula in Cologne. Captured on the banks of the Rhine by the Huns, she refused to betray her faith and was executed along with ten other virgins. She had fled her native kingdom of Brittany to avoid a forced marriage and try to reach Cologne. She is celebrated on October 21, and a Romanesque church bears her name, possibly built over the burial place of the martyrs.

Capture of Cologne and Bonn by the Franks. Bonn is renamed Bonnburg.

Pepin the Short, first ruler of the Carolingian dynasty, takes power in the Frankish Empire. Cologne loses its status as the seat of royalty to Aachen. Pepin's son Charlemagne reigns over a powerful, unified empire.

Cologne underwent several changes of domination, becoming part of successive kingdoms (West Francia, East Francia and Lotharingia).

The imperial coronation of Otto I in Rome by the Pope marked the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. From then on, the Emperor was chosen by a college of seven princes, bishops and dukes known as "Electors". The Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven Electors.

Cologne becomes the seat of an archiepiscopal principality. Numerous Romanesque
basilicas were built, and construction began on the first cathedral. Cologne now has the
status of a holy city on a par with Jerusalem or Rome.

Laying of the foundation stone for Cologne Cathedral on the site of a former church that had become
too small to accommodate relics and pilgrims. Centuries of construction followed, with
several interruptions and an unfinished cathedral in the landscape of the city of Cologne.

The Battle of Worringen, one of the bloodiest of the Middle Ages, marked the end of the archbishop's domination of the city of Cologne. In emancipating themselves from archiepiscopal power, the colonial burghers gained numerous freedoms.

Dusseldorp, formerly known as Düsseldorf, until then a simple fishing village on the Rhine, was elevated to city status by the victorious Count of Berg.

The county of Berg, on which Düsseldorf depends, becomes a powerful duchy.

Emperor Frederick III officially grants Cologne the status of a free city of the Empire: Cologne is under the authority of no sovereign other than the Emperor.

To meet the growing needs of intense river trade, Düsseldorf built its first port at
. Three years later, construction began on the new town hall, which would become
the center of power in the Rhineland city for several centuries.

Düsseldorf came under the rule of the Counts Palatine of Pfalz-Neuburg following a
fragmentation of the region. Duke Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Berg and his wife Anna Maria
Luisa of the House of Medici maintained an important court. Arts and culture are promoted.
The first opera house is built.

Architectural jewel and legacy of Elector Carl Theodor (1724 - 1799). It was also during this period that wealthy families settled in Bonn.

Birth in Bonn of Ludwig van Beethoven, musical genius and world-famous German composer. You can visit the house where he was born.

Napoleonic troops begin occupying the Rhine region.

The inhabitants of Cologne were granted French nationality and asked to join
the ranks of the Grande Armée. Until 1848, Cologne continued to use French currency. At
Düsseldorf, the French forced the destruction of the military infrastructure and city walls. As a result,
was given its own green lung, today's Königsallee, then known as Kastanienallee. A
veritable green belt now surrounded the old town. In Bonn, the sovereignty of the
prince-electors came to an end.

Creation of the Grand Duchy of Berg, which seceded from the Holy Roman Empire. A satellite region of the French state, it was first governed by Joachim Murat, then by Napoleon himself. The Grand Duchy initiated the founding of the Confederation of the Rhine, made up of 16 German states and now an integral part of the French Empire. A few weeks later, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.

Cologne and Düsseldorf become part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Both cities experienced significant demographic growth and an industrial boom. However, the Rhinelanders and the Prussians were not in love. In 1848, the distant ruler of Berlin visited Düsseldorf to put an end to revolutionary unrest. He was greeted by horse droppings on the Kastanienallee, renamed Königsallee by the city as a sign of apology.

The city of culture has steered clear of the industrialization of
the region. Thermal baths were also developed in Bad Godesberg. Bonn is becoming a popular
resort.

Work resumed under King Frederick William (Friedrich Wilhelm) IV. It was completed in a record 38 years, according to medieval plans.

Resounding archaeological discovery in the Neanderthal valley near Mettmann. Bones
and a skull fragment were unearthed, confirming the presence ofHomo neanderthalensis in the region 30,000 years ago.

Düsseldorf is growing at an exponential rate. A railway station was inaugurated in 1885 and a bridge
linking the two banks of the Rhine in 1898. The Ruhr's major manufacturing companies set up their headquarters here
.

Konrad Adenauer, future Chancellor of the FRG from 1949 to 1963, becomes Mayor of Cologne. He remained mayor until the Nazis took power in 1933. Under the Weimar Republic, Cologne shone with its modernism and avant-gardism on many levels. Düsseldorf was also a leading artistic center. After the First World War, Bonn was occupied by France under the Treaty of Versailles, Cologne by the British.

During Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, all the synagogues in Cologne were destroyed. Deportation and murder of large Jewish and Sinti communities. Between 1942 and 1945, no fewer than 262 bombings destroyed 95% of Cologne. The
Americans liberated it on March 6, 1945. Düsseldorf was home to the Reich's largest Gestapo office
after Berlin. By 1945, the city's Jewish community had dwindled from 5,500 before the war to
around 60. On April 17
1945, a small group of resistance fighters handed the city over to the Americans.

Düsseldorf was chosen as the seat of political administration for the British forces that
occupied the region. A major development plan for the city was launched in 1946 to make it the
Mecca of Rhineland capitalism. Urban plans were revised and streets widened. Daring architectural buildings were erected, such as the Dreischeibenhaus (1957-1960) and the Schauspielhaus (1965-1969).

Bonn was chosen as the seat of West Germany's federal institutions. Its ancient center
was destroyed during Allied bombing raids, but the outlying districts were
spared. The small Rhineland city, elevated to the status of capital, became a political center of the
first order in the contemporary period. In the 1960s-1970s, major projects such as the construction of the Federal Chancellery took place at
.

After German reunification, Bonn ceased to be the federal capital following a parliamentary vote
in favor of Berlin. However, a law passed in 1994 allows many
administrative offices to remain in Bonn.

Creation of the Thalys, a direct rail link to Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Essen. In 2023, the name will be changed to Eurostar. According to official figures, over 6.5 million passengers have travelled by Thalys between France, Belgium and Germany.

Cologne Cathedral listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cologne became the first major German city to see the "schwarz-grüne" political coalition established. A surprising alliance between the Christian Democrats of the CDU and the Greens.

Pope Benedict XVI visits Cologne for World Youth Day (WYD). John Paul II preceded him twice, in 1980 and 1987.

With 25 million passengers a year, Düsseldorf consolidates its position as Germany's third-largest airport, after Munich and Frankfurt. The entire North Rhine-Westphalia region benefits from this gateway to the world, with 180 communities directly linked to the airport by public transport.

200 years and still going strong for Germany's craziest carnival. "Kölle Allaf" and a jubilee in grand style for an event with a strong identity in the Rhineland city.