Cologne Tour 2025 - FULLY BOOKED
Cologne Tour 2025 - FULLY BOOKED
Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 September 2025
Start time/place: meeting time 12.45pm, start time 1pm/ Tourist Information Centre, Kardinal-Höffner-Platz 1
Finish time/place: 2pm/ Rheinpark Café
Penny Laughton and Susannah Charlton will lead a tour of Cologne's surviving interwar heritage and postwar reconstruction. Highlights include visits to work by Rudolf Schwarz, Peter Zumthor, Wilhelm Riphahn, and churches by Gottfried Böhm.
Thursday 25 September: Guided city centre walk looking at postwar commercial developments and cultural buildings, including the Museum Ludwig and Philharmonie (Busmann and Haberer, 1986). We conclude with an interior visit to Peter Zumthor's Kolomba museum (2007).
Friday 26 September: A tour of the university – with buildings by Adolf Abel (1935), Rolf Gutbrod (1967 and 1968) and others – is bookended by two Gottfried Böhm churches (1964 and 1970) and a selection of postwar national cultural institutions.
Saturday 27 September: The morning is devoted to places of worship, including a tour of Gottfried and Paul Böhm's Central Mosque (2017). After lunch we look at Wilhelm Riphahn's Hahenstraße development (early 1950s) and finish at the WDR building by P F Schneider (1952, 1964).
Sunday 28 September: After looking at two interwar housing developments by Wilhelm Riphahn, we visit the riverside trade fair and Rheinpark site – the location of the 1914 Deutscher Werkbund exhibition – with buildings by Adolf Abel (1928) and Frei Otto (1950s), concluding at the Rheinpark café (1957).
Susannah Charlton has led weekend tours to Le Havre and Rotterdam and is co-editor of the Society’s ‘100’ series of books. Penny Laughton has led events in London and co-led weekend tours including to Southampton and Stuttgart.
Note: The tour includes a lot of walking, as well as using public transport (at participant's expense). Information correct at time of publication.
Members price £445
(Included in the price: Thursday, entrance to Kolomba museum and welcome drinks; Friday, group meal; and a contribution to the casework and campaigning activities of the Society)
Numbers limited to 23
C20 Society are not liable for any other costs including travel, accommodation, and meals. We strongly recommend you take out travel insurance, and read our cancellation policy and disclaimer click Here.
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
Above: Restaurant die Bastei, Cologne - Wilhelm Riphahn, 1924
Image credit: © Superbass / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)