🇩🇪 Germany
Cologne
Cologne (Köln in German — population 1.08 million — the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany) is one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded as the Roman colony of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA) in 50 AD by Emperor Claudius (whose wife Agrippina the Younger was born in a Roman military settlement at this spot on the Rhine in 15 AD — the settlement was elevated to a full Roman colonia in her honor). Cologne's history is shaped by three forces: the Rhine (the river that made Cologne one of the most important trading cities in medieval Europe — the Rhine tolls collected by the Archbishop of Cologne were the foundation of the city's medieval wealth), the Catholic Church (Cologne was the ecclesiastical capital of the Holy Roman Empire: the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven Electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor, and the city's skyline was dominated by 12 Romanesque basilicas built between the 10th and 13th centuries — the largest concentration of Romanesque church architecture in the world), and the Cathedral (Kölner Dom — the Gothic cathedral begun in 1248 (the foundation stone was laid in 1248) and not completed until 1880 (the construction was paused for 632 years (1473–1842)) that is the most visited landmark in Germany (6 million visitors/year) and was the tallest building in the world from 1880 to 1884). Cologne is also the birthplace of Eau de Cologne (4711 Kölnisch Wasser — the perfume created in 1792 by the Italian perfumer Giovanni Maria Farina, who named it "Köln water" after his adopted city — the specific blend of citrus, neroli and rosemary that has been produced continuously in Cologne since 1792), the city of Kölsch (the pale, top-fermented beer produced exclusively within the Cologne city limits (the Kölsch Konvention of 1986 — the agreement restricting the name to the 24 Cologne breweries) and served only in the Kölsch glass (the 200ml cylindrical glass called the Stange)), and the home of the largest carnival in Germany (the Kölner Karneval — 3 days of "the crazy days" (die tollen Tage), beginning on the 11th of the 11th at 11:11am and culminating in the Rosenmontagszug (Rose Monday Parade): the fourth-largest carnival procession in the world with 2 million spectators).