Technology
77 places in Cologne
Agfa Foto-Historama
One of the world's most significant photo-historical collections — nearly 20,000 cameras and over 12,000 photographs, now housed at Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
Bahnhof Köln/Bonn Flughafen
Germany's third airport with an ICE link: a tunnel station under a vaulted glass roof, its four tracks lying up to 18 metres deep.
Bahnhof Köln-Chorweiler
Shared underground station for S-Bahn and Stadtbahn in the heart of Chorweiler, whose Stadtbahn tracks were rebuilt several times to suit new vehicles
Bahnhof Köln-Dellbrück
Around 1900, eight or nine extra trains brought Sunday day-trippers to Dellbrück. Today the S 11 stops at the station on the line to Bergisch Gladbach.
Köln-Deutzerfeld Station
Deutsche Bahn depot station in Köln-Kalk: every regional train terminating at Köln Messe/Deutz is stored here and made ready for its next run.
Köln Frankfurter Straße Station
Station on Cologne's airport loop: trains stop on a bridge over Frankfurter Straße, mainly serving the AirportBusinesspark in Gremberghoven.
Köln-Lövenich Station
Once a passenger stop on the Cologne–Aachen line, now a bypass station: when the route was upgraded for high-speed traffic, the platforms and station building made way for the tracks.
Köln Messe/Deutz Station
A two-level interchange station at Cologne's trade fair grounds: local trains cross the Hohenzollern Bridge above, while high-speed ICE services call on the lower level.
Köln-Mülheim Station
Regional and S-Bahn hub in northeast Cologne, opened in 1909 as the joint station of the then-independent town of Mülheim am Rhein.
Bahnhof Köln-Nippes
Station with a railway museum in the former depot and Deutsche Bahn's first CO2-neutral maintenance facility, mostly in Cologne-Nippes.
Köln West Station
Station on Cologne's railway ring with a listed reception façade and a light-rail stop running at right angles beneath the tracks.
Bahnhof Köln-Worringen
On the Left Lower Rhine line since 1855: this is where the Cologne S-Bahn's Chorweiler loop rejoins the main line.
Porz-Wahn Station
Once the oldest station in the Porz area, opened in 1859: Porz-Wahn is now an S-Bahn stop in Cologne's south where the airport loop branches off the Sieg line.
Glaub Cutlery Museum
A Cologne specialty museum (1951–1995) housing what was likely one of the world's most extensive cutlery collections — from Stone Age knives to the present day.
BRAUWELT Köln
Cologne's oldest still-producing brewery; its main building in Kalk is the city's oldest industrial monument still serving its original purpose.
Carlswerk, Cologne
Former cable factory in Cologne-Mülheim where the first transatlantic telephone cable was made in 1904 – now a business campus and cultural venue.
Colonius
since 1981At 266 metres, the tallest telecommunications tower in North Rhine-Westphalia — its revolving restaurant and observation deck have been closed for years.
Deutz Bridge
The world's first steel box girder bridge (1947/48) – linking Heumarkt with Deutz; the Roman bridge once stood a few metres further north.
Deutzer Drehbrücke
since 1908Rotating steel bridge from 1908 over Deutz Harbour — one of two Cologne swing bridges, a listed technical monument with its original control house intact.
Disch-Haus
Cologne office and commercial building regarded as a major landmark of New Objectivity architecture, built on the site of a former luxury hotel.
DMEXCO
Annual trade fair and conference for digital marketing and advertising, held since 2009 at the Koelnmesse grounds in Köln-Deutz.
Dombrücke
since 1859Cologne's first permanent Rhine crossing since Roman times and direct predecessor of the Hohenzollern Bridge — nicknamed the 'Mousetrap' by locals.
Swing Bridge in the Rheinauhafen
since 1896Cologne's oldest crossing over Rhine water: a listed swing bridge from 1896 that pivots aside using hydraulics powered from the Malakoff Tower.
Eis- und Schwimmstadion Köln
since 1930Home of seven Kölner Haie championship titles (1972–1998) on Lentstraße in the Grüngürtel — replaced by the Lentpark in 2011.
Envihab
Human centrifuge, simulated altitudes up to 5,500 m and bed rest studies: the DLR facility in Cologne investigates how environmental conditions affect the human body.
European Transonic Windtunnel
Test aircraft models under near-real flight conditions: Cologne wind tunnel with test temperatures from −163 °C to 40 °C and speeds of up to Mach 1.35.
European Astronaut Centre
Astronauts rehearse spacewalks in a huge underwater pool here and train for missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
Evoke
Since 1997 in and around Cologne: Evoke is Germany's oldest surviving demoparty, and each year it unfolds under its own motto.
Cologne Bonn Airport “Konrad Adenauer”
Germany's third-largest cargo airport, home to UPS and FedEx hubs and once the government airport of the Bonn Republic.
Fordturm
Former 112 m steel lattice tower in Cologne-Deutz, crowned by a rotating "Ford" globe — built in 1950 and demolished just thirteen years later.
Galeria Cologne Hohe Strasse
1912–1914 department store where Germany's first-ever department store escalator went into operation in 1925.
Glass House (1914)
Bruno Taut's domed building of colored glass, concrete and steel, created for the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne, is counted among the works of early Expressionism.
Köln-Buchforst Station
Suburban rail stop on Cologne's S-Bahn trunk line: because both platform ends sit in a curve, cameras and monitors help the driver dispatch the train.
Haltepunkt Köln Hansaring
Western end of Cologne's S-Bahn trunk line: much of the island platform sits on a bridge over Hansaring, the street it is named after.
Haltepunkt Köln-Lövenich S-Bahn
S-Bahn stop between Lövenich and Weiden, opened in 2002 about 50 metres west of the village's closed old station.
Hansahochhaus
since 1925Cologne's first skyscraper from 1925 — briefly the tallest building in Europe at completion, built in the Brick Expressionist style.
Cologne-Merkenich Combined Heat and Power Plant
At 250 metres, this power plant's chimney is Cologne's second-tallest structure after the Colonius tower — and the city's primary source of district heating for its northern districts.
Heizkraftwerk Köln-Niehl
Rheinenergie's gas-fired combined heat and power plant in Niehl — supplying Cologne's city centre with district heating, with Germany's largest heat pump planned next door.
Heizwerk Köln-Südstadt
Germany's first major alternating-current power plant began operating in Cologne's Südstadt in 1891 – today it's a working district heating plant.
Helios (Electrical Engineering Company)
since 1882Electrical engineering pioneer from Ehrenfeld — its 44 m Heliosturm, a faux lighthouse, still defines the neighbourhood today.
Langeler Bogen Flood Retention Basin
A polder on the right bank of the Rhine that is deliberately flooded during high water events to lower the river level in Cologne.
Hohenzollernbrücke
since 1911Germany's busiest railway bridge spanning the Rhine — a defining feature of Cologne's skyline alongside the Cathedral, and famous for thousands of love locks.
Idiotenbrücke
Nickname of a former Cologne railway bridge in Neuehrenfeld, where trucks repeatedly got wedged due to a clearance of only 3.9 m.
Intermot
Trade fair for motorcycles and scooters in Cologne, with a qualifier for the Custom Bike World Championship, the e-Motion Show for electric motorcycles and a February date from 2027.
Kleinbahn im Rheinpark
Parkeisenbahn mit Westernzügen und einer historischen Porsche-Lok auf einem 2 km langen Rundkurs durch das Gelände zweier Kölner Bundesgartenschauen
Kölner Festungsmuseum
Volunteer-run museum in Prussian fortification VIII b — home to Germany's last surviving drawbridge, moat, and sculpture park in Marienburg.
Kölner Randkanal
A nearly 20 km drainage canal on Cologne's city boundary — keeps the open-cast lignite mines dry and doubles as a continuous cycling route with a hydropower screw.
Kölner Seilbahn
since 1957Gliding over the Rhine: since 1957, this six-minute cable car ride has offered sweeping views of Cologne, the Old Town, and the Cathedral.
Malakoffturm
since 1855Brick gatehouse of Prussian Rhine fortifications at Rheinauhafen — now linked by a swing bridge to the Chocolate Museum across the water.
Motorworld Köln
Home of the Michael Schumacher Private Collection: a hub for classic and collector cars on the grounds of the former Butzweilerhof airport.
Mülheimer Brücke
since 1951Rhine suspension bridge between Mülheim and Riehl — the origin of Cologne's iconic bridge-green colour and Germany's first bridge with an orthotropic deck.
Mülheimer Hafen
No cargo handling since 2000: the harbour in Cologne-Mülheim is now a shipyard site and the only port in Cologne not owned by the HGK.
Mülheimer Schiffbrücke
since 1888Floating timber bridge on some 40 anchored pontoons (1888–1927), with an opening section for river traffic, that replaced the Rhine ferry crossing at Mülheim.
Niehler Hafen
Largest of Cologne's six cargo ports by area – in 1929, a catapult plane carrying overseas mail from the steamer “Bremen” landed here.
Oberpostdirektion Köln
Regional postal authority for the Cologne area from 1850 to 1993, headquartered in the Altstadt-Nord district.
Odysseum
Interactive science adventure museum in Cologne-Kalk — opened in 2009, it ran for 16 years across 5,500 m² before closing in 2025.
Photokina
Photokina was the world's leading trade fair for photography, video and imaging, held in Cologne from 1950 to 2018.
Planetarium Köln
Cologne's first planetarium — a 1965 Zeiss projector in the basement of a Nippes secondary school, paired with an observatory built by students.
Pollonius
115-metre telecommunications tower in Cologne's Porz district, named as a nod to its taller 'big brother', the Colonius tower.
Rechtsrheinischer Kölner Randkanal
A twelve-kilometre underground relief canal that carries streams on the right bank of the Rhine from Bergisch Gladbach-Refrath all the way to Cologne-Stammheim, where they empty into the river.
Cologne-Rodenkirchen Rhine Bridge
since 1941Germany's first true suspension bridge: 567 m across the Rhine, opened in 1941 as the 'Adolf Hitler Bridge,' destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954.
Leverkusen Rhine Bridge
since 1965Cable-stayed bridge carrying the A1 motorway across the Rhine at Leverkusen — replacing the demolished 1965 bridge that could no longer handle modern traffic.
Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum
One of Germany's largest collections of industrial railway locomotives, housed in a former engine shed in Nippes — currently closed to visitors.
Rheinufertunnel
Road tunnel on the Cologne Rhine bank, with the Rheingarten above it. In high water, the area above is flooded on purpose to protect the tunnel against buoyancy.
Sender Köln-Raderthal
Cologne's medium-wave transmitter for WERAG, the WDR's predecessor, on air from 1927 to 1932. Its listed transmitter house in Köln-Raderthal still stands today.
Severinsbrücke
since 1959Cable-stayed bridge with a single A-shaped pylon over the Rhine to Deutz — Cologne's first entirely new bridge built after World War II.
Stadtbibliothek Köln
since 1890One of Germany's largest public libraries with around 850,000 items — currently operating from a temporary location on Hohe Straße during major renovations.
Stellwerk Köln-Dünnwald
Railway signalling museum in Dünnwald preserving a rare DrS2 interlocking, one of Germany's first electronic signal boxes, and a working operations simulator.
Thielenbruch Tram Museum
since 1997Historic Cologne trams in a 1906 depot hall — including the fully operational 'Finchen', which still runs to Frechen today.
Südbrücke
since 1946Steel three-arch railway bridge from 1910 spanning the Rhine, primarily for freight traffic, with pedestrian and cycle paths; listed heritage structure.
TimeRide Cologne
VR time travel in Cologne's Old Town: a virtual tram ride through 1926 Cologne, experienced through a VR headset.
TÜV Rheinland
since 1872Independent testing and certification giant born from steam boiler inspection in 1872 — headquartered in the 114 m Am Grauen Stein tower in Cologne.
Volkssternwarte Köln
Volunteer-run observatory on the roof of Cologne's Schiller-Gymnasium, equipped with a 60 cm reflector telescope funded entirely by public donations.
Wasserwerk Westhoven
Historic waterworks from 1903–1904 with a Romanesque-style rendered façade, still supplying drinking water today and serving as a learning venue, the "Wasserschule Köln".
WDR Arkaden
WDR building with an arcade-like façade by Gottfried Böhm — famous for live broadcasts of Cologne's Weiberfastnacht carnival kickoff.
Westgate
Cologne office and retail building heated and cooled by its own groundwater system, crowned by a glass dome.
