The Rhine-Ruhr (Cologne) Area

The Ruhr area of western Germany is known for industry. It is one of the places that the Industrial Revolution began. For the first stage of the Industrial Revolution, it had those two all-important resources of coal and iron.

But the history of this region began long before the Industrial Revolution. The Rhine River was the edge of the Roman Empire. What you will generally find in the Rhine-Ruhr Area is that the cities to the west of the Rhine River began as Roman outposts, while the cities to the east of the river began hundreds of years later, in medieval times. The part of Germany to the west of the Rhine River is known as the Rhineland.

Cologne is the largest city of the Rhine-Ruhr area. But I would like to begin our visit with Aachen, in the far west of Germany. The way I see it, Aachen is really where Germany began.

Like the other cities in the area to the west of the Rhine River, Aachen has Roman origins. But it is known as the city of Charlemagne. Both France and Germany are descended from people known as the Franks. Charlemagne, sometimes referred to as "The Father of Europe" was of the Carolingian Dynasty of the Franks. Charlemagne was crowned by the pope as the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, in the year 800, in the old St. Peter's Basilica.

The dynasty of the Franks that had preceded the Carolingian Dynasty, the Merovingian Dynasty, had their center of power in Paris. It was they who built a palace on the island in the Seine River from which Paris would grow outward.

But the Carolingian Dynasty moved it's center of power eastward, to Aachen. This is where Charlemagne lived and was buried and where later Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. Notice the similarity between Aachen and the Isle de la Cite in Paris. There was a palace in Aachen, which is now gone. But the chapel of the palace remained, and the present Aachen Cathedral was built around the chapel.

The empire of the Carolingian Dynasty did not last, eventually splitting into East Francia and West Francia. East Francia, including Aachen, would become the Holy Roman Empire and later Germany. West Francia, including Paris, would become France.

The main reason for the split was likely language. The western area had been part of the Roman Empire and had gotten to speaking a Romance language, which would become French. The eastern part had not been ruled by Rome and spoke a northern European language, which would become German.

The name of the Franks lives on today in France and in the German city of Frankfurt. The name of the Carolingian Dynasty lives on in America's North and South Carolina, for which they were named.

The German name for France is still "Frankreich". The French name for Germany is still "Allemagne", for a people in this area who the Franks had conquered.

Also significant in Aachen is the Rathaus, or City Hall, from the Fourteenth Century. German cities, as well as Vienna, typically have a medieval city hall across the central square from the cathedral. The following scenes of Aachen begin at the Rathaus.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.7764702,6.0837612,3a,75y,259.71h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO3pnYOW6Rts7SMu7WeeZycMVHmmq1BU4NNnt05!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO3pnYOW6Rts7SMu7WeeZycMVHmmq1BU4NNnt05%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya66.98209-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Cologne, being on the west bank of the Rhine River, has been important since Roman Times. The Frank conquest of Cologne was the beginning of them becoming the people from whom both modern France and Germany would descend. Is is known today especially for it's Thirteenth-Century cathedral with the twin spires. Notice how dark the stone of the old cathedral looks, that is from prolonged exposure to coal smoke following the Industrial Revolution.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9414001,6.9562558,3a,75y,103.44h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sg37Onwy_tLdzPuLlXoU9FQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dg37Onwy_tLdzPuLlXoU9FQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D110.77551%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

We have seen, in previous visits to Vienna and Moscow, how city walls are sometimes later dismantled and a grand boulevard built over the former course of the wall. The following scenes begin on the Kaiser Wilhelm Ring in Cologne.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9429851,6.9404895,3a,75y,290.78h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1ss_SJOh8cIkJu7o3HVezIsg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Ds_SJOh8cIkJu7o3HVezIsg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D301.06354%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Dortmund, to the east of the Rhine River, is not of Roman origin but from the early Middle Ages.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5170243,7.4597047,3a,75y,207.51h,100.76t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipP5TOzFG-QVAgthVlnUWUDhTk0PoE-LjOg_vgGR!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipP5TOzFG-QVAgthVlnUWUDhTk0PoE-LjOg_vgGR%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya262-ro0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

Bonn is another city from Roman times. It is remembered today as having been the capital city of West Germany until the capital was moved back to Berlin upon reunification. The vote, held in 1991, was only narrowly in favor of moving the capital back to Berlin. Bonn is not a really major city and it was supposedly chosen as the capital of West Germany for this reason. It was never really intended to be a permanent capital, only until the country could be reunified and the capital moved back to Berlin. If a larger city had been chosen as capital, such as Cologne or Frankfurt, it might have been tempting to make that the permanent capital. The following views of Bonn begin at the Munsterplatz in the center of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.7344922,7.0989619,3a,75y,134.57h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOgy71LmowfZOkti3uWX1c05kSDvt4jJ_3kJE0b!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOgy71LmowfZOkti3uWX1c05kSDvt4jJ_3kJE0b%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya277.20572-ro0-fo100!7i7776!8i3888

There are suffixes that are common to the names of German towns and cities, -heim means "home", -stadt means "place", -berg means "hill" or "mountain", -burg means "castle", -bad means "bath" or "spa", -furt means "ford" which is a place where a river is shallow enough to be crossed, and -dorf means "valley". Here is the city of Dusseldorf, which means "The valley of the Dussel River".

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2151297,6.767335,3a,75y,119.01h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sQw5QNMr9xbIEVguMF1Lt9g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DQw5QNMr9xbIEVguMF1Lt9g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D131.51698%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Essen is another city of the Ruhr which originated in the early Middle Ages and later for industry. It was the home of Krupp, the famous steel company.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4582257,7.0113248,3a,75y,146.53h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqe6oMX-nWT1479K45ikDQA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dqe6oMX-nWT1479K45ikDQA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D157.61386%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Munster is one of the most charming old cities anywhere, and also the home of a very old cathedral. After the Reformation, there was even a plan to make Munster the "New Jerusalem". Munster is also an Irish name, Ireland is geographically divided into four quadrants and the southwest is called Munster. I cannot see that the two names are connected although very early Irish monks did evangelize in this area. The following scenes of the center of Munster begin at the Prinzipalmarkt.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.962932,7.6257268,3a,75y,105.49h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMAYtPEB9rNxqLWaiAxGYXq2MKOlclaZXKHQRCI!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMAYtPEB9rNxqLWaiAxGYXq2MKOlclaZXKHQRCI%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-3.1867924-ya105.56669-ro0.06674175-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

If you ever take an aspirin, remember the city of Wuppertal where it was invented.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.259172,7.1481139,3a,75y,214.77h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0saHbnqG3055r_kw4XbUGQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D0saHbnqG3055r_kw4XbUGQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D203.48636%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Hanover is another medieval city with an impressive Rathaus, or town hall. This town hall is not from medieval times, but from the time of the Kaisers.

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3710818,9.7366375,3a,75y,141.89h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbMYR3TqlS41ia2bt1m3hkA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DbMYR3TqlS41ia2bt1m3hkA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D154.40884%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656