Cologne Cathedral quarter
When the cathedral was completed in 1880 as a national symbol, it was freed from adjacent structures and stood isolated, unhampered by traffic.
In 1970, the Domplatte [de] was constructed as a large concrete surface without steps around the cathedral, which became the location of major open-air events such as Carnival and pop concerts.
Later buildings included the Binger houses built in 1596 for the publisher Arnold Kirchhoff by Johann von Winter in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral, attested as early as 1382 as an archbishop's fief of the Erbkämmerer [de].
[2] The Cologne city view of 1570 [de] by Arnold Mercator shows that buildings immediately surrounding the cathedral in all directions.
[3] The Cathedral Deanery on its north side was built completed in 1658 for the Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg, and was demolished in 1892.
[4] The French administration installed a guillotine in the cathedral courtyard, which they called Place Metropole, on 16 October 1798, where more than 30 people were executed.
The difference in height between the cathedral choir and the Frankenplatz, which was lower at the time, was to be compensated by a two-winged staircase, part of an overall garden design which included a fountain, the later Petrusbrunnen.
[7] To follow the plan, the dilapidated provostry was demolished in June 1830, and the Cologne prison Hacht in August 1893, for an unobstructed view of the cathedral.
In October 1885, city architect Josef Stübben submitted a plan for the free exposure of the cathedral which he presented in the Deutsche Bauzeitung.
In May 1964, construction work began on the underground Cologne Stadtbahn, which initiated new concepts of the cathedral surroundings, especially since the tram running close to it would be no longer needed.
In April 2003, the city commissioned Christian Schaller with the redesign of the stairs to the main station, which he designed as a 70 m wide flight of steps, opened on 10 August 2005.
[18][19] Four large squares surround the cathedral: in the south the Roncalliplatz with the Papstterrasse, in the west the Domvorplatz with the Kardinal-Höffner-Platz, in the east the Domherrenfriedhof and the Heinrich-Böll-Platz, and in the north the Bahnhofsvorplatz.
[22] A full-size replica of the finials of Cologne Cathedral is set up on the square and is a popular meeting place for tourists.
As usual in the Middle Ages, the area around the cathedral was densely built, with churches, the archbishop's palace and other culturally significant buildings.
Buildings included, with their street address in brackets: The area around Cologne Cathedral became an urban space with a metropolitan character.
... For skaters and rollerbladers, for acrobats, street musicians and pavement painters, the areas in the shadow of the venerable cathedral become a private open-air stage.
[44] The Domplatte together with the cathedral were voted the most popular place in Germany in the programme of 22 September 2006 in the ZDF series Unsere Besten.
[45] Although the Domplatte frees the cathedral from its island location surrounded by traffic, the concreting has created barren landscapes, foul-smelling corners and meeting places for social fringe groups.
