Schildergasse

The roots of the Schildergasse reach back to Roman times. Its present course roughly follows the former Decumanus maximus, the Roman east-west axis that connected directly to the Cardo maximus – today's Hohe Straße. The forum, the Romans' central marketplace, lay at the intersection of both axes. Unlike Hohe Straße, however, the Schildergasse's Roman past is not firmly established, as only sparse finds have surfaced here.

Over the centuries the Schildergasse was a dense network of workshops, homes and courtyards. Many painters from Nuremberg kept their workshops here, and famous names such as Stefan Lochner and Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder lived nearby – though not on the street itself. Monasteries moved in too: Beguines, Antonines, Crosier friars and Poor Clares founded their convents here. A silent witness to that era still stands today: the Antoniterkirche, which grew out of the Antonine monastery founded in 1298 and was completed around 1380. It is regarded today as a place of calm amid the bustling shopping street.

In the 19th century the Schildergasse developed into an urban promenade. Cafés such as the "Café Royal" became meeting points – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were among the guests, and political assemblies were held here during the March Revolution of 1848. In 1914 the Tietz department store opened at the junction with Hohe Straße, considered at the time the largest and most modern department store in Europe. On 23 February 1966, the Schildergasse became Cologne's first pedestrian zone. When Hohe Straße followed in 1967, the result was one of Germany's longest car-free shopping miles at 1,417 metres.