You are now standing on one of Cologne's most famous streets - Hohe Straße. Today, crowds of people flow through here every day, and the sounds of conversations, footsteps, and the occasional bicycle horn blend into a characteristic hum. But imagine you are here almost two thousand years ago. Roman soldiers and merchants traverse a carefully paved street, which the Romans called Strata lapidea - the stone road. For centuries, it was the main artery, the Cardo maximus, around which all of Roman Cologne was built. On both sides, lazarets, shops, bakeries, baths, and even an exclusive praetorium for Roman commanders were established.
As the Middle Ages arrived, the street remained unchanged, like an axis of time. Merchants, artisans, and citizens vied for the best trading spot here - some houses, like "Zur goldenen Waage" or "Haus Jülich," were built, changed owners, and accumulated extraordinary stories. In the place where glass and steel dominate today, in ancient centuries, brilliant goldsmiths from the Glesch family delighted with elegant wooden ceilings, and apothecaries at the site of today's "Paradies-Apotheke" offered remedies "auf dem Steinweg," or "on the Stone Road."
As you walk towards the Main Station, you see how Hohe Straße connects with Schildergasse. This corner of Cologne was crucial for centuries - here, two main Roman trade routes intersected, and the marketplace in the forum buzzed with life already in the time of the legionaries. In the Middle Ages, as the city grew, the street was already so significant that university professors and students of the newly established University of Cologne settled here. Wandering along Hohe Straße, you pass places where the first reading rooms, student dormitories, or canons' colonies were established.
Street names changed frequently here, from "Up deme steynwege" through "Under spermecheren" - because many blacksmiths and armorers worked here - to "Unter gülden Wagen," in memory of the famous house "Zur goldenen Waage." The closer you get to the Main Station, the more traces of past centuries: note the narrow, eight-meter width of the road - this was its width hundreds of years ago.
In modern times, Hohe Straße attracted elites: the first department stores were built here, exclusive tobacco shops - Joseph Feinhals sold 1000 types of cigars here! If you listen carefully, you might hear in the distance the sound of old cash registers and the rhythmic clatter of printing presses from ancient printing houses.
During World War II, the street was almost completely reduced to rubble - only a few buildings, including the baroque house at number 111 and the characteristic houses "An den vier Winden," survived the bombings. Post-war reconstruction brought Hohe Straße back to life, although the old, medieval character of the street was partially replaced by post-war buildings and large department stores. In 1967, it was decided to make it exclusively for pedestrians - hear the footsteps of thousands of passersby, the buzz of shopping, and, with a little imagination, the laughter of children participating in the first post-war carnival parades.
Today, Hohe Straße is a world of boutiques, banks, cafes, and constant movement. Despite its modern facade, it still conceals thousands of years of the city - from legionaries treading on stones, through medieval merchants, to contemporary tourists and residents. Every step on Hohe Straße is a walk through the layers of Cologne's history - one of the most extraordinary streets in Europe.
