They are the most important lifelines of the city, the pulsating heart of Cologne’s business world, the glittering universe of consumption. Beneath its pavement is a 2000-year history – starting with the Romans, who founded a glamorous colony here. And Napoleon, who rode his wife on horseback along the Hohe Straße and gave it its name: “Rue haute”. And who knows that Schildergasse was the artists’ quarter of Cologne in the Middle Ages? And the Hohe Strasse was the hippest place to go out 100 years ago?

Behind every façade, under every stone and behind every face there is a story of its own. Where did the world stars of jazz, but also Maria Callas and Romy Schneider, go to have a coffee? How did the architect Renzo Piano create the “most expensive square in Cologne” – in front of a dazzling fashion house that lies like a stranded whale over the Nord-Süd Street? What is the significance of the metal house facade on Hohe Straße? And can glittering shopping streets also mean a piece of “home”?
 

WRITER: Martin Tönnessen, Christel Fomm     DIRECTOR: Christel Fomm     CAMERA: Jörg Adams     EDITOR: Igor Garbuzenko     COMMISSIONING EDITOR: Maik Bialk (WDR), Dorothee Pitz (WDR)