Volkssternwarte Köln

The observatory traces its roots to the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Köln, founded in 1922 to make astronomy accessible to a broad public. In 1935, a first observatory was built — largely by volunteers — on the roof of a primary school at Großer Griechenmarkt, only to be destroyed in World War II. Its centrepiece was a refractor with optics by Max Pauly, which had previously been used by Philipp Fauth for a drawn lunar atlas; these optics survived the war undamaged in a bank safe outside Cologne.

In 1962 the association moved into a new observatory on the roof of the then newly built Schiller-Gymnasium in Sülz. City funding from the cultural office continued until the early 1980s; since then the observatory has been entirely self-sustaining. For its 50th anniversary in 2012, the old Wachter-Coudé refractor was replaced by a 60 cm reflector telescope, financed solely through public donations.

The Coudé telescope served as the main instrument for 45 years before being sold; in 2017 it was reinstalled in the restored tower of the Sternwarte Remplin. A solar observation refractor was added the same year. A 20 cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with GoTo mount and smaller telescopes are available as needed, and further equipment is kept at an outstation in the Bergisches Land.

Regular public tours offer observation of the Moon, planets, and other celestial objects, accompanied by astronomy talks with multimedia presentations. Group visits can be arranged on request. Beyond outreach, the observatory supports the training and continuing education of active amateur astronomers, who have access to the full range of instruments at member events.