210 GERMANY. 



expelled their Protestant fellow-citizens. After this the town decayed rapidly. 

 Its tortuous streets became changed into gutters, and shoals of mendicants beset 

 the church doors. Of recent years the recovery has been rapid. Cologne has 

 become the head- quarters for the steam navigation of the Rhine, the traffic on the 

 railways converging upon it is increasing from year to year, and numerous manu- 

 factories, including potteries, spinning-mills, chemical works, and machine shops, 

 have sprung up in the city and in its environs, not to mention the many "original" 

 distillers of eau de Cologne. Including its suburb Deiitz (14,507 inhabitants), it 

 has now a population of 169,071 souls, which is probably not much inferior to 

 what it had in its most prosperous days. 



The cathedral, or Dom, is the most famous edifice of Cologne, rising high 

 above the surrounding houses, a witness to the wealth, past and present, of the city. 

 During more than three centuries this unfinished structure was allowed to fall 

 into decay, but work upon it has been resumed, and it is hoped to complete it in 

 the course of a few years. Many other churches are noteworthy on account of 

 their architecture. St. Mary of the Capitol, the oldest amongst them, is built in 

 the Byzantine style ; that of the Apostles is famed for its arcades ; 8t. Gereon 

 has a crypt paved with mosaics ; and St. Peter's boasts of an altar painting by 

 Hubens. The town-hall is an incongruous structure, not wanting, however, in 

 picturesqueness. Near it is the Giirzenich, with its famous concert hall. A 

 museum, founded by two citizens, Wallraf and Richartz, contains a collection 

 of paintings and antiquities. There are also zoological and horticultural 

 gardens. 



Cologne, being a fortress, is enclosed by an enceinte, which will, however, be 

 razed as soon as the twelve detached forts now building shall have been com- 

 pleted. 



To the west of Cologne, close to the frontier of Belgium, rises another 

 large city, which for a long time might fairly claim to be the superior of the 

 Rhenish city. This is Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle, 79,008 inhabitants), situate on 

 a small tributary of the Meuse, fed from the hot spring which rises in the 

 " valley of the wild boars," called Porcetum in mediœval Latin, and now known 

 as BurtHcheid (Borcette, 10,220 inhabitants). Aachen does not enjoy the advan- 

 tage of a great navigable river, but its many sulphur and thermal springs so 

 pleased Charlemagne that he made Aquisgranum the capital of his empire, and 

 there constructed a marble palace, of which marvels are related in old legends. 

 The palace has disappeared, the town-hall occupying its site ; but the chapel 

 which Charlemagne built, and in which he was buried, still exists as a portion of 

 the cathedral which grew out of it. So great a hold had Charlemagne's deeds 

 obtained upon the minds of his contemporaries that Aachen was proclaimed a 

 '• holy city " soon after his death, and attracted multitudes of pilgrims. 

 Thirty-seven emperors were crowned there, seated in the marble throne of 

 Charlemagne. 



The springs, Avhicli originally made the fortune of the town, still attract 

 some 26,000 visitors annually, but Aachen possesses other elements of wealth in 



