Barbarossaplatz

Traffic hub on Cologne's Kölner Ringe ring road, named after Frederick Barbarossa in 1883, with a tram stop encircled by multi-lane carriageways.

Outdoor

Square Ring road City centre History Art Architecture Monument City history

Barbarossaplatz is part of the Kölner Ringe, a 7½-kilometre ring road, and was named on 10 May 1883 after Frederick I, known as Barbarossa (Italian for 'red beard'). A tram stop at the centre of the square is enclosed on all four sides by multi-lane carriageways.

At a Glance

Type: Square and traffic hub on the Kölner Ringe
District: Südstadt, inner-city borough
Dimensions: approximately 100 metres long, around 50 metres wide
Buildings: including an 18-storey, 48-metre high-rise on Salierring (1972)
Art: two public sculptures (1976/77 and 1993)

Did you know?

In 2017, the Cologne band Querbeat dedicated an entire song to the square – "Guten Morgen Barbarossaplatz" – because the former city conservator Ulrich Krings had publicly called it "the most neglected square in the city."

Source: Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-06-24

Location and Layout

At both ends of the square, side streets, sections of the ring road and federal roads converge at intersections; at the south-eastern end a tram crossing adds further complexity. The north-eastern side forms part of a continuous residential block, while the south-western side is a row comprising a twelve-storey high-rise and two smaller buildings. All earlier structures were destroyed during the war.

Hohenstaufenring, Cologne, the Rhine, Germany. Around 1900 — © Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain

Buildings

The twelve-storey high-rise at Barbarossaplatz 2 was built in 1955/56 to plans by Ernst Nolte for the savings bank (Sparkasse), together with a four-storey annexe. On the corner of Salierring stands an 18-storey, 48-metre high-rise from 1972, with a grocery store on the ground floor and offices above.

Cologne, Barbarossaplatz beginning Roonstraße — © Horsch, Willy - HOWI · CC BY 3.0

Public Transport

At the square, city rail line 18 crosses ring lines 12 and 15, while line 16, arriving from the Köln/Dom stop, merges onto the ring road. The stop is split across two locations: platforms on Barbarossaplatz itself and on Neue Weyerstraße. The platforms on the square are step-free; the others are not.

Cologne Barbarossaplatz, Steel-Watercolor-Triangle-Ring. Painted Steell 1993 Fletcher C. Benton 1931 U.S.A. — © Horsch, Willy - HOWI · CC BY 3.0

Art and Perception

The square features sculptures by Paul Suter ('Attila', 1976/77) and Fletcher C. Benton ('Steel-Watercolor-Triangle-Ring', 1993). Together with Zülpicher Platz, Barbarossaplatz serves as a local retail centre for around 22,000 residents. The former city conservator Ulrich Krings once described it as the most neglected square in the city — a reputation the band Querbeat immortalised in their 2017 song 'Guten Morgen Barbarossaplatz'.