Alter Markt

Alter Markt is Cologne's oldest square, documented since the 13th century when it held market rights and drew merchants from across Europe to its cobbled expanse near the Rhine. The surrounding half-timbered townhouses are largely postwar reconstructions — Allied bombing in March 1945 destroyed most of the original buildings, and the current facades evoke rather than replicate the medieval streetscape. Today the square is best known as the focal point of Cologne's carnival season: from Weiberfastnacht through Rosenmontag it becomes one of Germany's most densely packed public celebrations, with stages, costume processions, and tens of thousands of revelers. Outside the carnival session, the Brauhäuser ringing the square offer Kölsch beer in an open-air atmosphere that keeps Alter Markt at the social center of the Altstadt year-round.

Medieval square ringed by historic brewhouses, the carnival tunnel and the Jan-von-Werth statue.