
Kranhäuser im Rheinauhafen
Trio of glass-and-steel towers shaped like old harbor cranes, ringing the reborn Rhine dockside.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Kranhäuser at Rheinauhafen in Cologne starts with the harbor crane Herkules hoisting a twenty-four-ton bronze bell at dawn on November the twenty-fourth, nineteen twenty-four, bound for Cologne Cathedral. It traces the crane's own history back to eighteen ninety-seven and explains why the three glass towers behind you copy its upside-down-L shape. You'll also hear the strict rules Archbishop Karl Joseph Schulte set for when the new bell could ever be rung.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Rheinauhafen
Historic river harbor of grain warehouses and antique cranes, now cafes and glass towers.
Cologne Cathedral
Twin-spired Gothic cathedral raised over six centuries, once left unfinished with a crane atop its tower for four hundred years.
Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum
Former customs warehouse on the Rhine harbor, now a museum with two sports courts built onto its roof.
Schokoladenmuseum Köln
Glass and aluminum museum shaped like a ship's bow, wrapped around a historic harbor customs house.
Ehrenfeld
Landlocked brick lighthouse tower once used to test lamps for real German coastal beacons.
Cologne Triangle
Glass-enclosed observation deck atop a curved triangular tower, with views across the Rhine.