Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer
Section of Cologne's Rhine riverside road named after Konrad Adenauer, running along a bank whose oldest traces lie at St. Kunibert.
Boatmen and fishermen had lived since ancient times along the long bank of a bay that the Rhine formed northeast of the later Roman colony. For centuries, the riverside road there received no name of its own.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Multi-lane tree-lined avenue with a central reservation
- Course
- From the Hohenzollern Bridge (Altstadt-Nord) to the western part of the Zoo Bridge
- Location
- Neustadt-Nord district, Innenstadt borough
- Built/Opened
- 1897
- Named after
- Konrad Adenauer
- Traffic
- Part of Federal Road 51 (B 51)
- Features
- Pavement, riverside promenade with cycle path
In the Middle Ages, the northern Cologne riverside road had no name of its own: the Schreinsbücher records from the 12th century onward describe it only as "in littore" or "Litus Reni", and even on Mercator's 1570 city view only the side alleys are named, not the riverfront road itself.
Things to do here
A Goddess as Namesake
A village called "vicus deae Lucretiae" is said to have arisen in the northern part of the riverbank. The ancient historian Hermann Schmitz traced the name of this protective goddess back to Celtic origins. He based this on two inscriptions naming the mother goddess "dea Lucretia", a name that does not occur in Roman cult. One comes from north of the Roman wall, the other from the corner where the north and east walls of the ancient city meet. According to Schmitz, deities venerated as matrons had shaped place names since pre-Christian times, here dating back to the Ubian period.
Roman Roads and St. Kunibert
The Romans did not build a northern riverside road. The direct connection was the route of Eigelstein – Neusser Straße – Niehler Straße. In the 7th century, Archbishop Kunibert is said to have built a small church on the Rhine in front of the northern Roman wall, possibly on an early Frankish cult site. Traces of this possible sanctuary, the "Kunibertspütz", still lie below the east apse in the crypt of St. Kunibert. These finds and remains of a possible predecessor building are considered the oldest traces of this stretch of the riverbank.
A Bank Without a Name
From the 12th century onward, Cologne's Schreinsbücher (property registers) locate plots on the bank only with phrases such as "in littore" (around 1135) or "uff der stat mauren" (1596). Arnold Mercator's 1570 view of the city likewise names only the lanes that open onto the bank. In that period, a stone building jutting sharply into the Rhine was erected in front of the outer city wall tower Weckschnapp. Beyond it, the map shows only a row of houses in the far north, mostly with vineyards; building was denser only from St. Kunibert's church onward.
The Street Today
The street is recorded as built or opened in 1897 and is named after Konrad Adenauer. Under this name it runs northeast from the Hohenzollern Bridge and becomes the Niederländer Ufer at the Zoo Bridge.
What Remains
Despite changes to the riverbed and corrections to the bank, archaeological finds from Roman times and later periods have survived. In addition, there are the collegiate church, remains of the early city fortifications, and the street "Am Alten Ufer", of which only fragments remain.
Timeline
- 7. JahrhundertArchbishop Kunibert is said to build a small church outside the northern Roman wall
- 12. JahrhundertCologne Schreinsbücher records of riverside properties begin
- um 1135Riverbank location recorded in Schreinsbücher as 'in littore'
- 1570Arnold Mercator's view of Cologne shows the riverside street unnamed
- 1596Schreinsbuch records location 'uff der stat mauren' on the Rhine
- 1897Construction/opening year according to Wikidata
Map
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Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-10-13
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