How do you help Cologne – or can Cologne not be helped?
Even if there are always friction, delays and frustration: The city of Cologne needs the commitment of its citizens more than ever, says our guest author Peter Pauls.
Cologne – As the Danish shipowner Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller decided to give his homeland an opera house, he went to the 90 to. The man who created the largest company in Scandinavia did not have much life. Therefore, he shouldn’t have a choice on the Copenhagen city tour: the present should look like this and no other, as designed by a world-renowned architect commissioned by him. The donor also acted as the client. Ultimately, the condition was accepted. After only three years the plans for the Danish National Opera became a reality and Mærsk was able to go to “his” opera for a long time until he died at the age of 98.
Kölner Stadtmuseum: Donor couple wanted to give an extension – and withdrew offended
Whether the patron is also in Cologne would have progressed? The case of the couple, Hans and Marlies Stock, was not that spectacular, but it was a tough one. The couple wanted to give the city an extension of the Cologne City Museum. At first the offer remained unresponsive, and then it got violently in the administrative and political mills. The shipping owner wanted to save his time, because good nerves are necessary. Givers sometimes feel reduced to the administrative process. In 2009, the Stocks withdrew their offer, hurt and annoyed.
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Cologne: What to do with the Millions of the Foundation Council?
Or the Foundation Council for the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (WRM). It was founded in 1999 at the suggestion of the late Cologne City Director Lothar Ruschmeyer, who is responsible for the costs of the new WRM building and is looking for supporters – ultimately for no reason, as it later turned out. As a result, the council of founders, the nun has funds, committed itself to the construction of an extension to the museum. The game quickly lasted 20 years. A clear change for the better only succeeded as Mayor Henriette Reker made the expansion a top priority and found a persistent counterpart in Peter Junge as Chairman of the Foundation Council. I leave out the debates about the Corbauds’ art collection. They would fill more than one newsletter.
Does the city of Cologne leave enough space for the ideas and commitment of its citizens?
Do cities, and especially Cologne, give their citizens space? Do you take up offers and see how you can integrate initiatives into a catalog of tasks? Or do you just speak the same language and generous offers are not seen as a disruption to your work routine? Are you overwhelming each other? Who integrates the initiatives, creates in the city districts, spaces, sets limits? Is the thought of giving the Hohe Strasse in Cologne a roof more than a New Year’s Eve rocket that only glitters for seconds? Just like the relocation of Cologne Central Station, the vision of “New Center Cologne”? Or the plans for Neumarkt, commissioned by a residents’ initiative around the art auctioneer Henrik Hanstein? Has the power of the “KölnGold” book already fizzled out? and does the new building of a Rhenish music school only serve the purse of the companies involved? Doesn’t Cologne need its citizens more than ever?
I discuss such (future) questions in the Cologne Press Club on Wednesday, November 10th, 7:30 p.m. in the Hotel Excelsior Ernst with City Director Andrea Blome, to the Building contractor Anton Bausinger and the Architect Kaspar Krämer. Are you interested and vaccinated or tested? We look forward to your registration at [email protected].
- Andrea Blome is Cologne city director the important Department I General Administration and Order. Until the qualified architect succeeded Dr. Stephan Keller (meanwhile mayor in Düsseldorf) took up the position, she was head of transport for the city of Cologne for almost five years.
- Anton Bausinger is the managing partner of the construction company Friedrich Wassermann, which was founded 115 years ago in Cologne. The latest projects include “Clarenbachplatz 1” in Cologne-Braunsfeld, where the HGK tracks are built over a length of 160 meters with a residential building.
- Kaspar Kraemer is an architect in Cologne. He was President of the BDA Bund Deutscher Architekten for six years. His most famous buildings in the cathedral city include the “Odysseum” knowledge museum in the Kalk district of Cologne and the illuminated flood pumping station on the Rhine in the Bayenthal district.
Our guest author Peter Pauls
Peter Pauls is chairman of the Cologne press club. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper for many years Cologne city indicator. This article comes from the newsletter of the Cologne Press Club, which you can subscribe to here.