Visiting students at the Mathematical Institute Cologne

Cologne is a well-known student city with an open-minded and multicultural atmosphere. Founded by the Romans as “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium,” the city looks back on more than 2,000 years of cultural and architectural history. With around one million inhabitants from over 180 nations, Cologne is a unique and welcoming city that is easy to get to know, easy to feel at home in, and easy to get around in – especially by bicycle.
Cologne offers all the advantages of a city: culture, entertainment, public transport, international shops and institutions, as well as history and tradition. At the same time, you never feel lost here, as the city has retained a human scale and offers many small cafés, pubs, and green parks where you can relax.
With 13 public and private higher education institutions and around 60,000 students, Cologne is one of the largest university cities in Germany. The University of Cologne is located in a beautiful and safe neighborhood, not far from the city center.

The university was founded in 1388 by the city council with the approval of Pope Urban VI and existed until it was closed in 1798 by the French revolutionary army during the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine. After the Kingdom of Prussia took control of the Rhineland following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the government saw no need for a university in Cologne, which had a strong Catholic tradition, while the kingdom was ruled by the Protestant Hohenzollern dynasty. In 1919, however, Konrad Adenauer, then Lord Mayor of Cologne, together with other prominent citizens, re-established the “University of Cologne.” The university remained a municipal institution until 1954, when it became a state university.