Germany Guide
North Rhine-Westphalia
Kölnisches Stadtmuseum
Address: Zeughausstrasse 1–3
Opening time: Tues 10am–8pm, Wed– Sun 10am–5pm
Price: €4.20; free English audio guide
A winged, gilded Ford car atop the medieval city armoury announces the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, which takes an engrossing journey through Cologne's long history. Among its exhibits is a huge model of the city based on Mercator's 1571 plan, which shows quite extensive areas within the walls were given over not to buildings, but to vineyards. There's also a model of one of the extraordinary log rafts that were once floated down the Rhine to satisfy the enormous demand for timber. They could be 300m long and had accommodation on board for the four to five hundred people needed to crew them. In the Middle Ages, seagoing ships could go no further upriver than Cologne, and the city's prosperity was greatly aided by the Stapelrecht – a law that stipulated merchants had to offer their goods for sale to the citizens of Cologne before they were allowed to transship them. It persisted until 1831. The museum also has displays on Cologne in the Nazi era.