Antique Cologne (part 2)

In its best days, ancient Cologne was a big city: 20-25 thousand people lived in it. One can imagine how fast this Roman city on the Rhine grew, how temples, covered galleries-porticos, public buildings, a forum appeared in the German forests, the heart of the Roman city, how the streets were paved, heating systems were installed in houses using pipes laid under the floor- of hypocausts or bronze rovings, how sewage was diverted to the Rhine, how it was grated, equipped with shutters and glass windows of houses, how their walls were decorated with mosaics and murals, elegant furniture appeared, thin-walled dishes – in a word, in barbaric life semi-wild tribes included civilization. Continue reading →