Historisches Rathaus der Stadt Köln

The Rathaus stands out for its irregular, layered appearance, featuring a fourteenth-century gothic tower topped with a sixteenth-century renaissance loggia. It holds the oldest city council in Germany, dating back to the twelve hundreds. During the Middle Ages, the city council held their meetings in the Hansasaal, a room with high wooden ceilings that still serves as a ceremonial space. In the nineteen forties, allied bombing reduced the structure to ruins, and workers spent decades reconstructing the stone facades by hand.