Hohenzollern Bridge

This guide to the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne centers on the bronze statue of Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, unveiled in 1911 the same year the bridge opened beneath him, a monument built for an empire its sculptor assumed would last forever. It follows Wilhelm's abdication and exile in 1918, and how the statue outlived him to collect its own history, from red paint splashed across the horse in 2020 to banners protesting his colonial wars in Africa. You'll also hear about the only bridge in Cologne that Wehrmacht engineers destroyed themselves in March 1945, rather than lose it to Allied bombs.