Rheinhallen
Listed former Cologne trade fair halls on the Deutz riverbank: behind the brick façade now sits RTL Germany's broadcast center.
Behind their red-brick shell, the Rheinhallen have moved from trade fair pavilions to a modern media and office complex — while their darkest chapter is marked by a plaque most visitors never notice.
Source: Wikipedia
At a glance
- Current name
- Rheinpark-Metropole Köln
- Location
- Cologne-Deutz (Innenstadt district), on the Rhine bank north of the Hohenzollern Bridge
- Listed features
- trade fair tower and red-brick façade
- Architect
- Adolf Abel
- Gross floor area
- 160,000 m²
- Parking
- 2,000 spaces on the northeastern side
From July 1942, the exhibition halls were repurposed as deportation holding sites for Jews as well as Sinti and Roma, who were sent from there to extermination camps; today a plaque on the exhibition tower commemorates this history.
From barracks to trade fair
Cologne's trade fair traces back to mayor Konrad Adenauer, whose initiative led to the founding of the fair company in 1922. The first, architecturally mismatched halls were nicknamed "Adenauer's horse stables" by locals. The first fair opened on 11 May 1924 on former barracks grounds, drawing over 600,000 visitors and more than 2,800 exhibitors. For the 1928 international press exhibition "Pressa," architect Adolf Abel unified the halls with a perimeter structure, a uniform façade, and the trade fair tower.
A site of deportation
From July 1942, the halls served as holding sites for Jews and Sinti and Roma before their deportation from Cologne to extermination camps. Forced auctions of Jewish property, left behind in deportees' homes, also took place here. A plaque on the trade fair tower commemorates this history.
Postwar growth
After the first postwar spring fair on 14 September 1947, the complex was repeatedly expanded until the space within the perimeter buildings was fully built up. By 2008, the Rheinhallen's 286,000 m² of exhibition space made it the fourth-largest contiguous trade fair site in the world.
New life behind an old façade
In 2005 Koelnmesse gave up the Rheinhallen early to pursue its "Masterplan2006" elsewhere. Because of heritage protection, the complex was gutted: steel supports held the façade in place while the entire interior was demolished. By May 2010, offices and a broadcast center for RTL, VOX, Super RTL, and n-tv had risen behind the historic brick walls, making the Rheinpark-Metropole Germany's second-largest office complex as a single structure.
Broadcasting and insurance under one roof
RTL Germany occupies half the floor space, including 17,000 m² of production area with stringent acoustic and climate requirements and two TV studios of 250 and 440 m². The remaining 80,000 m² house insurers and other tenants, including parts of HDI and Talanx Asset Management, which relocated their headquarters here.
Mall and courtyards
Four building blocks form the complex, with 16 structures grouped around 14 courtyards of 1,000 m² each, plus 28 light wells on the third floor. Running between the buildings is the landscaped, freely accessible "Mall" promenade, about 33 m wide and 200 m long.
Timeline
- 1922Founding of the Cologne trade fair company on Konrad Adenauer's initiative
- 1924Opening of the first trade fair on the former barracks site
- 1928Uniform perimeter buildings with exhibition tower and Staatenhaus built for the Pressa
- 1942Repurposing of the exhibition halls as deportation quarters under National Socialism
- 1947First postwar spring fair, followed by subsequent conversions
- 1958Completion of the Cologne Sports Hall (Hall X) as part of the complex
- 1962Separation of the sports hall from the Rheinhallen complex
- 2005Koelnmesse leaves the Rheinhallen; start of conversion and renovation
Gallery
Map
Blue dots: other places nearby — tap to explore.
You might also like — related or nearby
Comments
- Loading comments…
Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-09-25
How this page is made
This page draws on open sources — Wikipedia, Wikidata, official websites and the city’s open data. Every statement is checked against the sources linked here, and pages are refreshed regularly.
Spotted a mistake anyway? Tell us below — we read every submission.