On May 6th we were ‘tourists in our own city’. Living in or around Cologne there are so many things that you unknowingly might just walk past. How often have you seen the old city hall (Rathaus) with its tower covered with 124 stone statues, each representing an important Cologne figure? Agrippina, the founder of the city, was murdered by her son, Nero, but was also a murderer herself. It seems she murdered her third, and last, husband, but maybe her first two also! And we learned about Katherina Henot, burned as a witch during the height of the witchhunts in Cologne. She is also represented as a statue on the city hall tower. Our guide showed us the Frauenbrunnen, an interesting work of art in the courtyard of the Farina House, well-hidden but quite near the Hohestrasse. Cologne was a wealthy city at the end of the 17th century, with 4 women’s guilds, including the silk spinners guild. Only 3 cities in Europe at that time had such womens’ guilds.

     Our guide is from the Women’s Historical  Society (<a href”URL”>Frauengeschichtsverein</a>) of Cologne. She not only gave us a lot of information in very fluent English, but she presented it in a very interesting way. We hope to do other tours with her, finding out more about ‘our city’.