Events in Koeln

Cologne, the Rhine city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has a cathedral on the UNESCO World Heritage List and a carnival parade that has rolled through its streets since 1823. Its stages run from a concert hall built under a city square to an arena on the right bank of the Rhine. Tix Choice compares ticket sellers for events in Cologne.

The Roman town under the Domplatte

Cologne's Roman history spans almost five centuries, and a miniature portrait of Augustus in green glass recalls the emperor the city's Romano-Germanic Museum names as its founder. The museum opened in 1974 just south of the cathedral, over the remains of a Roman town house. It describes its collection of Roman glass vessels from the 1st to 4th centuries as the largest in the world. From the cathedral plaza, a large window shows its Dionysus mosaic of the 3rd century AD and the 1st-century tomb monument of the legionary veteran Lucius Poblicius.

Six centuries to finish a cathedral

Building began in 1248 and was not completed until 1880. UNESCO notes that the builders kept faithfully to the original plans, and that the 19th-century work followed medieval forms that can be compared with the original plan on parchment. Inside are carved oak choir stalls from 1308-11, the late 10th-century Gero Crucifix and the Shrine of the Magi, made between 1180 and 1225. The tourist board adds that Gerhard Richter's south transept window, inaugurated in 2007, arranges 11,263 squares in 72 colours.

Carnival, concerts and arena nights

According to the tourist board, the street carnival runs for six days, from Weiberfastnacht to Violet Tuesday, and its Rose Monday parade, led by the Blaue Funken, has rolled since 1823 with floats, dance groups and bands. In 2023 the parade crossed the Rhine for the first time to mark 200 years of Cologne carnival. The Kölner Philharmonie, open since 1986, sits beneath the Heinrich-Böll-Platz in a hall modelled on an amphitheatre, with a programme spanning symphonies, jazz, folk and pop. Its two resident orchestras are the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. Across the river in Deutz, the arena opened in 1998 as the Kölnarena, with an official opening concert by Luciano Pavarotti, and has hosted world championships in ice hockey and handball.

Tickets currently start from £58.74. The average starting price across listed events is £111.