Cologne - Bürgerhaus Stollwerck

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

In 1839 Franz Stollwerck started a business in Cologne producing chocolate and candy. The business flourished and, run by his sons, in 1890 had 1500 staff in Cologne. In the 20th century the company had a chequered history and in the mid 1970s the last production site inside the sity was given up - and more than 50.000 m² were now "open" for developement. Many locals protested against the planning to demolish most of the buildings and in 1980 these were squattered by about 600 people. After years the buildings got demolished. Now the "Bürgerhaus Stollwerck", erected as a "Provianamt" next to the Stollwerck factories in 1906, bears the name "Stollwerck".

www.buergerhaus-stollwerck.de/2.html