Köln - Medieval Cologne

[Klaus-Dieter]

Hello everybody!

After I'll have to work (again) hard for university from the next week on I luckily had today some time to build up a medieval town layout with Castle sets from the 80s til this year.

Köln is a city in West-Germany (its English name is "Cologne") which has been existing already since the Middle Ages. At this time it was encircled by heavy walls out of stone, included half-timbered houses, several market places, a big river - the Rhein (engl. "Rhine") running through the city and a lot of other things a medieval city did include. Don't ask me why but I did chose this name for my medieval town layout:

Mittelalterliches Köln (Medieval Cologne)

Here you have a quick overview of the town:

Let's begin with our city tour outside the city - at the Rhein: Some rowing boats are driving there to transport goods and to control the trading routes:

A prisoner's carriage takes away a prisoner to another city where he should be judged:

The watchman on top of the highest tower of the city adumbrates with fanfare sound the arrival of many horsemen:

The archbishop is arriving with his guards at the gate - his captain hands the guard at the gate a letter with important information:

Now let's move inside the city:

Directly behind the gate there is an armory on the right side and two poor people begging for bread and money on the other side:

A weapon's carriage crosses the street, a lumberjack comes home from his work and at the market someone sells some meat and some sausages:

But you can find not only meat and sausages at the market but even many more: fish, fruits, vegetables and household effects:

In the middle of the market place there stands a big conifer. Beneath it a guard watches the events on the market place:

Even the forester with one of his men and his dog visits the market in order to get fresh food:

Life is at that time very hard - at least for the biggest part of the population which are farmers. So e. g. the barn has to be cleaned and new hay put inside and someone always has to look after the animals:

But not only the farmers even the craftsmen have a lot to do: there are two blacksmith shops in which weaponry, household effects and many other things are produced and where the horses are studded:

The streets are at that time very dirty - garbage and content of several chamber pots are simply thrown outside the windows - the reason for several illnesses, the expansion of the pest and rat menaces. So only cleaning the streets can help a bit:

But there are regrettably not only problems inside the city - confrontations between several dukes, cities and countries often result in wars. Even Köln was regrettably not aible to not experience that. Troops are arriving at the city and attack it:

So many knights, guards and soldiers leave the castle to defend the city whereas the meal for the archbishop is prepared:

In order that they can defend the city effectly and well the guards, knights and soldiers have to exercise permanently:

When you want to relax after a long day of hard work you can have a warm bath in the bath house, eat and drink something very delicious the landlady currently prepared:

Cheers!

Some very few pics can be found in this folder (when public) of my BS gallery.

I hope you liked it and learned even a bit about the life in medieval cities. Comments are welcome!

Klaus-Dieter

[Inconspicuous]

Excellent work, Klaus-Dieter! I really like some of details- particularly the beggars! I like the way you've combined Classic Castle sets, Modern Castle sets, and your own creations. It's really funny that you made this, because a few weeks ago I shipped a Bricklink order to Cologne!

[Klaus-Dieter]

Excellent work, Klaus-Dieter! I really like some of details- particularly the beggars! I like the way you've combined Classic Castle sets, Modern Castle sets, and your own creations. It's really funny that you made this, because a few weeks ago I shipped a Bricklink order to Cologne!

Thanks, Inconspicuous!

I'm glad to read that you like my castle layout.

Yes, I necessarily wanted to have some beggars in my medieval city since they were common in medieval cities since many people did not own anything and so many ill and old people had to beg.

I thought - and still am this opinion - that the classic Castle walls and buidlings work very well with the awesome 10193 MVV.

Klaus-Dieter

[fenris]

As I lived in Cologne for 8 months I still feel conected to the city. Great work, reminds me of my childhood, when i looked at pictures with so many little scenes for hours, always discovering new little things!

[Klaus-Dieter]

As I lived in Cologne for 8 months I still feel conected to the city. Great work, reminds me of my childhood, when i looked at pictures with so many little scenes for hours, always discovering new little things!

Thanks, fenris!

There have of course to be big sets - otherwise it would surelynot look good - but imo the little scenes have a share in making the whole layout much more lively and interesting.

Klaus-Dieter