Old Market

The Old Market is a long, slightly curved square framed by colorful, narrow buildings with high gables that seem to lean into one another. Since the Middle Ages, this open space acted as the primary site for trade and public spectacle in Cologne. Traders hauled goods here while the city council debated just a few steps away. In thirteen seventy-one, after a bloody uprising, the city executioner beheaded the rebellious mayor, Mathias Overstolz, right here on the cobblestones before the cheering crowds.