History of Cologne City Archive, which was the largest in Germany. Its building collapsed during the construction of an extension to the underground railway system on 3 March 2009. History of Cologne The German city of Cologne was founded in the 1st century as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. It was taken by the Franks in the 5th century and became an important city of Medieval Germany, the seat of an Archbishop and a Prince-Elector. As the Free Imperial City of Cologne it was one of the centers of the Hanseatic League in the early modern period. Most of the city was
History of the Jews in Cologne Jewish quarter was rebuilt and the previous inhabitants forgotten. After the destruction of the community during Second World War, the medieval foundations were discovered, among them a synagogue and the monumental Cologne "mikveh" (ritual bath). The archeological survey was conducted after the war by Otto Doppelfeld from 1953 to 1956. On the basis of the awareness of history the area has not been reconstructed after the war and has remained as a square in front of the historical Rathaus. Today, the Jewish quarter is part of the "archeological zone of Cologne". In Cologne there was one of the largest Jewish