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Cologne ) is Germany's fourth largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. Cologne lies on the River Rhine in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia about half way between Frankfurt and Amsterdam. It is the largest city in the Rhine-Ruhr Area, one of the largest European metropolitan areas with almost 12 million inhabitants.

Cologne is best known for the famous Cologne Cathedral, its specially brewed Kölsch beer, Cologne University, the original Eau de Cologne and major festivals and events such as the Cologne Carnival, various Cologne Trade Fairs and the Cologne Gay Pride festival (Christopher Street Day).

Cologne is considered to be the economic and cultural capital of the Rhineland. Its location at the intersection of the river Rhine with one of the major trade routes between East and West was the basis of Cologne's growth. In the Middle Ages it also became an ecclesiastical centre of significance and an important centre of arts and education. Cologne is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The city is 43% Roman Catholic and 18% Protestant, while 39% of the population professes other religions or none. Until World War II and the ensuing process of urbanisation and influx of refugees from Eastern Germany, Roman Catholics comprised the vast majority of Cologne's residents, and the Catholic cultural influence is strongly present in the city today, particularly regarding the celebration of Carnival.

Cologne's university has around 49,000 students (autumn semester 20042005) and is renowned for its economics department. In addition to the university, there are also three colleges. One of them, Fachhochschule Köln (University of Applied Sciences of Cologne), is Germany's biggest college, having 18,000 students.

Cologne has 31 museums. Exhibits range from archeological findings to contemporary painting. Alongside the established places of art exists a thriving arts scene, represented yearly at "Art Cologne", Germany's biggest arts fair.

Cologne plays a paramount role in Germany's television industry. It is home to Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) - the biggest branch of Germany's first public broadcaster ARD. Cologne is also home to the private broadcaster RTL, one of the biggest and commercially most successful television companies in Europe, as well as to a big number of smaller media, television and film production companies.

20% of Cologne's population is non-German. 40% of these (or 8% of the total population) are Turkish. Cologne has an active gay scene and has long been known for its easy-going, tolerant attitudes. The city is a stronghold of Germany's gay movement and the headquarters of Germany's largest gay and lesbian lobby group. Cologne hosts Germany's biggest Gay Pride event, known as Christopher Street Day.

Cologne is well known for its beer, called Kölsch. Kölsch is also the name of the local dialect. This has led to the common joke that Kölsch is the only language you can drink.

A different kind of liquid that Cologne is famous for is Eau de Cologne. At the beginning of the 18th century, Italian expatriate Johann Maria Farina (1685-1766) created a new fragrance and named it after his hometown Cologne, Eau de Cologne (i). In the course of the 18th century the fragrance became increasingly popular. Eventually, Cologne merchant Wilhelm Mülhens secured the name Farina, which at that time had become a household name for Eau de Cologne, under contract and opened a small factory at Cologne's Glockengasse. In later years, and under pressure from court battles, his grandson Ferdinand Mülhens chose a new name for the firm and their product. It was the house number that was given to the factory at Glockengasse during French occupation of the Rhineland in the early 19th century, number 4711. In 1994, the Mülhens family sold their company to German Wella corporation. Today, original Eau de Cologne (German: i) still is produced in Cologne by both the Farina family (Farina gegenüber since 1709), currently in the eighth generation, and by Procter Gamble who took over Wella in 2003.

In 2005 Cologne hosted one of the largest-ever meetings of Catholic youth. The 20th World Youth Day took place from Monday, August 15, until Sunday, August 21 and over a million people celebrated mass (vigil) at Marienfeld (Mary's Field) in presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

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The city covers about 405.15 km² (about 156 miles²), on both sides of the river Rhine. It is between 37.5 and 118.04 m above sea level. The city of Bonn lies 30 km to the south, and Düsseldorf lies 40 km to its north.

The three crowns symbolise the Magi or Three Kings whose bones are said to be kept in a golden sarcophagus in the Cathedral (see Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral). In 1164, Cologne's archbishop Rainald of Dassel brought the relics to the city, making it a major pilgrimage destination. This led to the design of the current cathedral as the predecessor was considered too small to accommodate the pilgrims.

The eleven flames are a reminder of the Britannic princess St. Ursula and her legendary 11,000 virgin companions who were supposedly martyred by Attila the Hun at Cologne for their Christian faith in 383 A.D. In reality, the entourage of St. Ursula and the number of victims was probably significantly smaller.

Cologne became a city in 50 A.D. In 310 Constantine built a bridge over the Rhine at Cologne. Cologne had a bishop as early as 313, and, in 785, became the seat of an archbishop. The Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled a large area as a secular lord in the Middle Ages, but in 1288 he was defeated by the Cologne citizens and forced to move to Bonn. Cologne was a member of the Hanseatic League, but became a free city officially in 1475. Interestingly the archbishop nevertheless preserved the right of capital punishment. Thus the municipal council (though in strict political opposition towards the archbishop) depended upon him in all matters concerning criminal jurisdiction. This included torture, which sentence was only allowed to be handed down by the episcopal judge, the so-called "Greve". This legal situation lasted until the French conquest of Cologne. As a free city Cologne was an estate within the Holy Roman Empire and as such had the right (and obligation) of maintaining its own military force. Wearing a red uniform these troops were known as the "Rote Funken" (red sparks). These soldiers were part of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire ("Reichskontingent") and fought in the wars of the 17sup century including the wars against revolutionary France, where the small force almost completely perished in combat. The tradition of these troops is preserved as a military persiflage by the Cologne's most outstanding carnival society, the "Rote Funken".

The free city of Cologne must not be confused with the Archbishops of Cologne. The latter were an estate of their own within the of the Holy Roman Empire. Since the second half of the 16th century the archbishops were taken from the Bavarian dynasty Wittelsbach. Due to the free status of Cologne, the archbishops usually were not allowed to enter the town. Thus they took residence in Bonn and later on in Brühl on Rhine. As members of an influental and powerful family and supported by their outstanding status as electors the archbishops of Cologne repeatedly challenged and threatened the free status of Cologne during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in complicated affairs, which were handled by diplomatic means and propaganda as well as by the supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire.

Cologne lost its status as a free city during the French period. According to the Peace Treaty of Lunéville (1801) all the territories of the Holy Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine were officially incorporated into the French Republic (which already had occupied Cologne in 1798). Thus, this region later became part of Napoleon's Empire. Cologne was part of the French Département Roer (named after the River Roer, German: Rur) with Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) as its capital. The French modernised public life by introducing the Code Napoleon as civil code and removing the old elites from power, to cite two examples. The Code Napoleon was in use in the German territories on the left bank of the Rhine until the year 1900, when for the first time the German Empire passed a nationwide unique civil code ("Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch"). In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, Cologne was made part of the kingdom of Prussia. Cologne turned into an industrial city, and the current cathedral, started in 1248 but abandoned in the mid-1500s, was eventually finished in 1880.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Cologne incorporated numerous surrounding towns, and by the time of World War I had already grown to 600,000 inhabitants. After WWI Cologne was occupied by British Forces under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty. The occupation lasted until 1926. In contrast to the harsh measures of French occupation troops in the Rhineland the British acted much more tactfully towards the local population and the mayor of Cologne (the future West German chancellor) Konrad Adenauer paid them respect for their political significance, as the British withstood the French ambitions for a permanent Allied occupation of the Rhineland. In 1919 the University of Cologne (which had been closed by the French in 1798) was refounded. It was meant as a substitute for the German University of Strasbourg which had become French in 191819. Cologne University, with approx. 44,000 students as of 2005, is one of the largest universities in Germany.

In World War II, Cologne endured exactly 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and completely wiped out the centre of the city. During the night of May 31, 1942, Cologne was the site of the "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosive. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%. In 1945 Cologne was the "world's greatest heap of debris" as the German architect Rudolf Schwarz put it. Schwarz designed the masterplan of reconstruction after 1945. The destruction of the famous romanesque churches (St. Gereon, Great St. Martin, St. Maria im Capitol and about a dozen others) meant a tremendous loss of cultural substance to the city. The rebuilding of these medieval churches lasted until the 1990s, when the reconstruction of the romanesque church of St. Kunibert was finished. It took some time to rebuild the city. In 1958 the number of inhabitants had reached the pre-war status again. Afterwards the town grew steadily, and, in 1975, reached 1 million inhabitants for about one year.

By the end of the war, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 20,000 had been annihilated. Some 11,000 are believed to have been murdered by the Nazis. The synagogue, originally built in 1895, was severely damaged during the pogrom of November 9, 1938 (Kristallnacht) and finally destroyed during allied air raids between 1943 and 1945. It was reconstructed in the 1950s. This Cologne synagogue was the stage of a historic event in 2005, when the German-born pope Benedict XVI was the second pope ever to visit a synagogue.

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By merging in other cities and communes, Cologne took over their partnerships, with the following: BenfleetCastle Point (England), Igny (France), Diepenbeek (Belgium), Brive-la-Gaillarde (France), Dunstable (England), Eygelshoven (Netherlands) and Hazebrouck (France).

The centre of Cologne was completely destroyed during World War II. The reconstruction of the city, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets, followed the of the 1950s. Thus, the city today is characterised by simple and modest post-war buildings, with few interspersed pre-war buildings which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Some buildings of the "Wiederaufbauzeit" (era of reconstruction) as e.g. the opera house by Wilhelm Riphahn are nowadays regarded as classics in modern architecture. Nevertheless, the uncompromising modern ) is the city's famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it claims to house the relics of the Three Magi. It is interesting to note, that the residents of Cologne call the cathedral "the eternal construction site". They predict that by the time the renovation of the building has finished the end of the world will be upon us!Twelve Romanesque Churches: These buildings are outstanding examples of medieval sacral architecture. The roots of some of the churches date back even to Roman times, like St. Gereon, which originally was a chapel on a Roman graveyard. With the exception of St. Maria Lyskirchen all of these churches had been very badly damaged during World War II. Reconstruction was only finished in the 1990s.Ford Motor Company plants, assembling the Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion as well as manufacturing engines and parts.RheinEnergieStadion, the major Cologne stadium, primarily used for football games, seating 50,997 visitors in national games and 46,134 in international games, home to the local Bundesliga team, 1.FC Köln, and to the local NFL Europe team, the Cologne Centurions.Kölnarena, a multifunctional event hall, home to the local ice hockey team, the Kölner Haie (English: Cologne Sharks). (English: High Street) is one of the main shopping areas and extends past the cathedral in an approximately southern direction. This street is particularly popular with tourists and contains many giftshops, clothing stores, (fast food) restaurants and electronic goods dealers. - the shopping area around Apostelnstrasse, Ehrenstrasse, and Rudolfplatz is a little more on the eccentric and stylish side. boulevards (such as Hohenzollernring, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring, Hansaring) with their medieval city gates (such as Hahnentorburg on Rudolfplatz) are also known for their nightlife.

Cologne is the only city in Germany with an explicit tax on prostitution and other sex businesses. See the article on prostitution in Germany for details.

Adenauer, Konrad (January 5, 1876 - April 19, 1967), politician, Mayor of Cologne from 1917 to 1933 and German Chancellor between 1949 and 1963.Böll, Heinrich (December 21, 1917 - July 16, 1985), writer and winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1972.