Medieval Cologne: A Guide to the City’s Golden Age

(8 reviews)

Cologne audio tour: Medieval Cologne: A Guide to the City’s Golden Age

This is a 2.6mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Cologne

Germany

$7.99

Access all 51 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Buy for a Group

Reviews

About the Tour

Cologne’s history stretches back to Roman times, but it was during the Middle Ages that the city truly flourished.

On this walking tour, you’ll explore the city’s precious few preserved medieval remains, and find out how it became Germany’s largest medieval urban center with 50,000 inhabitants, surpassing even medieval Paris and London.

The tour starts at the main entrance of Cologne Cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece. You’ll see the oldest and most authentically medieval part of the structure: the choir section that dates to 1322. As you move through the city’s medieval northern half, you’ll discover how this area once contained farmland within the city walls, making Cologne self-sufficient during sieges and contributing to its centuries of successful defense against invaders.

Along the way, you’ll visit the Fish Market with its colorful restored buildings, the imposing Great St. Martin Church with its 800-year-old tower, and the historic Alter Markt (Old Market) where merchants traded and jousting tournaments were held. You’ll also see Heumarkt (the Hay Market) before exploring the city, away from the river.

The tour ends at the magnificent Hahnentor, one of the few surviving city gates from the nine-kilometer wall that successfully protected the city against foreign enemies until 1794.

During this 90-minute tour, you’ll also have a chance to:

Find out how the city’s strategic position on the Rhine River fueled its prosperity
Discover the Gürzenich, a late Gothic festival hall where emperors resided and the city’s elite hosted grand banquets
Explore the area that once housed Cologne’s Jewish Quarter, established in 321 AD, making it the oldest documented Jewish community in Germany
Take in Overstolzenhaus, the city’s only surviving medieval residential building, once occupied by a powerful patrician family who dominated city politics until their dramatic expulsion
Learn about Cologne’s economic dominance through its staple right, which forced passing merchants to offer their goods to the city first
Hear the legend of Richmodis, who supposedly returned from the dead during the plague of 1357
Visit the historic Waidmarkt where blue dye for textiles was produced, powering Cologne’s vital textile industry
See the sites where women silk weavers worked in their own unique guild, a rarity in medieval Europe

Step back in time to experience Cologne when it was the perfect medieval city – wealthy from trade, powerful through religion, and ruled by its own citizens in an era that shaped the very foundations of the city you see today.

Tour Producer

Willem Fromm

3 tours

I am a historian with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history from the University of Bonn, and a history podcaster.

Even as a little boy, I was already fascinated by the history of all kinds of places. I chewed my parent's ear off, I looked through the pane of glass into an ancient Jewish bathhouse in Cologne, wandered around as a little child on Forum Romanum, and climbed the Great Wall of China at 5 am in the morning to have it all for myself and not crowded with tourists.

Living all my life in Cologne, I started a history podcast about Cologne called "The History of Cologne" in late 2019. One year later, I started the German version of it called "Eine Geschichte der Stadt Köln."

I decided early on that my podcast about Cologne would be firstly in English, as my intention was to reach an international audience. Too often modern-day Germany is reduced in the media abroad to Berlin, Bavaria and Oktoberfest. I wanted to offer a different perspective. Focusing on the city with more history than any other major German city: the city of Cologne on the Rhine. Over 2,000 years old, founded by Emperor Augustus himself. Elevated to a Roman city by Empress Agrippina a few generations later. Bustling in the Middle Ages, being once the largest city in medieval Germany.

Preview Location

Location 11

Fish Market (Fischmarkt)

On your right is "Stapelhaus", in English Staple House. Bulky goods were once stored and checked here. The original medieval structure was destroyed in World War II. The current building, erected in the 1960s, stands on the same site and combines reconstructed elements with po... On your right is "Stapelhaus", in English Staple House. Bulky goods were once stored and checked here. The original medieval structure was destroyed in World War II. The current building, erected in the 1960s, stands on the same site and combines reconstructed elements with postwar architecture.

Stop here please.

You have reached the Fish Market. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful places in Cologne’s Old Town. Although around 90 percent of the city was destroyed during the Second World War, unlike many other places in Cologne, special care was taken here to restore the historic quarter as faithfully as possible. Take a moment to look around. Today, you're surrounded by vibrant pastel-colored houses, cozy cafés, and tourists snapping photos. But imagine standing here centuries ago: you’d be surrounded by the bustle of traders shouting prices, the sharp scent of fresh and salted fish, and the clang of barrels being sealed for shipment.

Fish Market – the name says it all. This was where fish was sold, especially so-called "green fish", meaning freshly caught fish that had not yet been salted or dried. In the Christian Middle Ages, fish was an essential part of the diet, especially because people fasted for over a third of the year. Approximtaley 140 days. So way longer than today in Catholicism. On fasting days, eating meat was forbidden – but fish was allowed.

But what if you lived somewhere without access to fresh fish? Then fish had to be traded to the place you lived. Cologne played a key role as a trading hub for fish. Barrels of salted herring from the North Sea were particularly suited for long transport. Every fish that passed through Cologne was inspected, processed, and put into barrels. The barrels were then branded with the so-called "Cologne brand mark" – a recognized seal of quality far beyond the city's borders.

Let's get going. With your back to the Rhine River, proceed to walk past the little fountain and then enter the Lintgasse alley.

Economic life in medieval cities, including Cologne, was strictly regulated. All craftsmen and merchants had to be members of a certain guild. Within these guilds, it was determined who could join, how many apprentices one could train, what standards goods had to meet – and most importantly, how much they were allowed to cost. While this ensured social security within the profession, it also led to exclusivity and cartel-like structures. Price fixing in particular could have negative effects for customers.

Keep going straight. Read More

View locations and route

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.

Resume playback to go at your own pace

If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.

Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast

Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.

Do tours without paying for data

Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.

Major Landmarks

Cologne Cathedral
Great St. Martin Church
Historisches Rathaus der Stadt Köln
Old Market
Heumarkt
Basilica of St Mary in the Capitol
Overstolzenhaus
Schnütgen Museum
Basilica of St Apostles
Hahnentor

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Kardinal-Höffner-Platz 1, 50667 Köln, Germany
Total distance

4km
Final location
Rudolfplatz 1, 50674 Köln, Germany
Distance back to start location

1km

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins right in front of Cologne Cathedral in front of the main gate. Look out for the "Kreuzblume", the big stone monument that stands in front of the Cathedral next to the stairs to Cologne Cathedral square.

Show Directions

Gift vouchers

Buy tours for friends and family who delight in discovery

Buy Now

Buy for a group

Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group

Buy Now

License this tour

Adapt this tour to use your brand and suit your guests

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

There are many bars, shops and restaurants that you will see on the tour, e.g. the Alter Markt. You will come across several romanesque churches mentioned on this tour, some of them nearly a thousand years old such as Great St. Martin and St. Mary in the Capitol. They are free of charge to visit but remember that they are active places of worship. But I'd highly recommend to pay them a visit. Please be sure to check out their opening hours on the internet beforehand. Some of them have unusual opening hours/days.

Best time of day

All day. You can also do the tour at night but maybe then you might miss a few details.

Precautions

As a city that attracts around four million guests from all over the world every year, it also attracts pickpockets to the old city on the Rhine. Please always take care of your valuables. Especially on Cologne's Cathedral Square. Well-known scams of thieves are: distracting you in a conversation while another person secretly empties your purse. With younger people, sometimes they'll dance up to you. Or stumble into someone. On escalators, too, there is a new trick of using the emergency brake to take advantage of the hustle and bustle to relieve yourself of your valuables. So please always be careful. As great as this city is, this is unfortunately also a part of it. Otherwise, the city is extremely safe. Only pickpockets are a well-known problem, as in all tourist cities.

Get The App

Download tours to use them offline

Listen hands-free with GPS playback

Get turn-by-turn directions

Scan the QR Code

“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”