Urlaub in Köln | Köln zu Kaisers Zeiten | Radtour

🏰 Cologne in imperial times | 🚲 Bike tour

Our photo-historical tour compares the past with today. In imperial times, Cologne was as beautiful as Paris, Prague, Vienna or Krakow. The Ring was a magnificent boulevard and the historicist opera house was the largest in the German Empire.

Why was that? Between 1881 and 1914, the population increased fivefold and farming villages were transformed into industrial locations. Settlements for workers and industrial halls were built in the suburbs, and outside the demolished city walls, city palaces and villas for factory and bank managers were built. And the cathedral was also completed! Urban planning provided green spaces and places of entertainment to improve the quality of life. Our theme is places where architecture from the imperial era still stands and which are still in use today. We compare historical photographs with the present and use historical postcards from the imperial era. Why this period with its "beautiful" magnificent buildings was a thorn in the side of the Nazis is just as much a topic as the development into a big city.

🕑 Duration: 2 hours
Length: approx. 12 km
🎓 Experts: Wolfgang Vollmer and Priska Höflich
📍 Meeting point: Flora main entrance, Alter Stammheimer Weg, 50735 Cologne
🏁 Destination: Qvest Hotel
📅 Date repetitions:
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 - 7 p.m.
Sunday, July 26, 2026 - 3 p.m.

This tour is part of: Vacation in Cologne - Discover your city!
July 18 - August 2, 2026
🔗 All info & tours: www.urlaubinkoeln.de
A project of the Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch / SK Stiftung Kultur
Don't miss any more news about vacations in Cologne? Click here for the newsletter