Belgisches Viertel

This guide to the Belgisches Viertel in Cologne opens on the day in June 1881 when workers began tearing down the city's medieval wall, and follows planner Josef Stuebben's proposal for wide new boulevards on the cleared ground. You'll hear how the city council settled on Belgian place names for the new streets in 1884, and how two Dutch towns ended up on the map alongside them. The guide also tracks the apartment blocks and Saint Michael's Church built through the 1890s, and how the quarter fared when bombs fell in September 1944. Walk the grid and see how much of that original brick and marble is still standing.