Cologne Webcam – Cathedral Spires Above the Old Town

The Cologne Webcam looks over the rooftops of the old town to the west front of Cologne Cathedral, whose twin Gothic spires fill the left half of the picture. WDR, the regional public broadcaster, runs the camera from the roof of its 14-story Archivhaus, roughly 250 meters (820 feet) southwest of the cathedral, and posts a fresh image every 60 seconds. Behind the cathedral’s choir, the steel arches of the Hohenzollern Bridge lead across the Rhine to Deutz, where the round KoelnTriangle tower and the white arch of the Lanxess Arena stand out on the skyline. The dark stone of the west front changes most in the late afternoon, when the low western sun turns it a warm brown.

About Cologne and Its Cathedral

Cologne, Koln in German, is the fourth-largest city in Germany, with 1,025,523 residents in 2025, and spreads along both banks of the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its cathedral took 632 years to finish. Work began on 15 August 1248 and ended on 15 October 1880, after which the building was the tallest in the world for four years, until the Washington Monument overtook it. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage list in 1996, and about 6 million people visit every year.

Inside stands the Shrine of the Three Kings, a reliquary believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men. The cathedral’s St. Peter’s Bell weighs 24 tonnes (53,000 pounds) and was the largest free-swinging bell until 2016. During World War II the building took 14 hits from aerial bombs and survived them.

The camera’s home, the WDR Archivhaus, was built between 1965 and 1968 near Appellhofplatz, and from its roof the Cologne Webcam faces roughly east. The train shed of the main station, Koln Hauptbahnhof, shows to the left of the spires. To the right, Deutz lines the far bank, with a dark office tower beside the arena, and the tower of the Romanesque church of Gross St. Martin rises at the right edge of the frame. WDR says the view reaches downriver as far as the Muelheim suspension bridge. The camera sits well above the streets, so ground level around the cathedral, including Roncalliplatz on its south side, is hidden behind the office blocks in the foreground.

Weather and Climate in Cologne

Winters are mild. January averages highs of 5.9 C (42.6 F) and lows of 0 C (32 F), and snow falls on about 10.6 days a year, so a white dusting on the cathedral roofs is possible but uncommon. Spring warms steadily: by April, afternoons average 16.1 C (61.0 F) and nights 4.5 C (40.1 F), and the trees along the bottom of the frame come back into leaf.

July brings average highs of 24.9 C (76.8 F) and lows of 13.3 C (55.9 F), and the city’s record of 40.3 C (104.5 F) was set on 25 July 2019. October cools to highs of 15.2 C (59.4 F) and lows of 6.8 C (44.2 F). About 802 millimeters (31.6 inches) of rain falls across the year, and with roughly 1,568 hours of sunshine annually, Cologne ranks among the cloudiest cities in Germany, so the spires are often set against a grey sky.

Things to Do Near Cologne Cathedral

The cathedral itself comes first. A spiral staircase of 533 stone steps climbs to a viewing platform about 100 meters (330 feet) above the ground, high over the same rooftops the camera watches. Museum Ludwig, opened in 1986 close to the cathedral, holds Pop Art, abstract and surrealist work and around 900 works by Picasso, the third-largest collection of the artist in the world. The same building houses the Koelner Philharmonie concert hall.

The Hohenzollern Bridge is 409 meters (1,342 feet) long and carries more than 1,200 trains a day, the heaviest use of any railway bridge in Germany. Pedestrians can walk across it to Deutz past railings hung with love locks, a habit that started in 2008 and had reached an estimated 500,000 locks by 2015. On the Deutz side, the KoelnTriangle has a viewing platform that looks back across the river to the cathedral. The carnival season opens on 11 November at 11:11, and in the weeks before Christmas the city runs several Christmas markets, one of them beside the cathedral.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Three more German cams, from Cologne’s own airport to the Rhine and a historic market square:

• Cologne Bonn Airport Webcam
• Boppard Webcam
• Hildesheim Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

What can you see on the Cologne Webcam?

The twin spires and west front of Cologne Cathedral fill the left of the picture, above the office roofs of the old town. Behind the choir are the arches of the Hohenzollern Bridge, and across the Rhine in Deutz stand the KoelnTriangle tower and the arch of the Lanxess Arena, which WDR says locals call the Henkelmaennchen. Gross St. Martin closes the view on the right, and the main station roof shows on the left.

Where is the Cologne Cathedral webcam located?

The camera is on the roof of the WDR Archivhaus near Appellhofplatz in central Cologne, roughly 250 meters (820 feet) southwest of the cathedral, looking east toward the Rhine. The cathedral stands on the west bank of the river in the old town, in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany.

Is the Cologne cathedral cam a live stream?

It is a live still camera rather than a video stream. WDR captures a new image every 60 seconds, and the player on this page reloads it automatically, so the picture stays close to real time. There is no sound.

Does the Cologne Webcam show the Rhine?

Only in part. The river runs just beyond the cathedral but lies below the rooftops, so the water itself is mostly hidden. What you can follow is the crossing: the arches of the Hohenzollern Bridge and the Deutz bank on the far side.

Can you see the Christmas market or Carnival on the Cologne webcam?

No. The camera looks across rooftops, so street level is out of sight. The Christmas market beside the cathedral, the old town squares of Heumarkt and Alter Markt near Gross St. Martin, and the carnival crowds in the streets are all hidden by the buildings in front of the camera.

Does the camera show Cologne Bonn Airport?

No. Cologne Bonn Airport lies about 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of the cathedral, far outside the frame. The site has a separate Cologne Bonn Airport Webcam, linked above, that watches the apron at Terminal 2.

How tall is Cologne Cathedral?

The spires reach 157 meters (516 feet). The church is 144.5 meters (474 feet) long and 86.25 meters (283 feet) wide, and from its completion in 1880 until 1884 it was the tallest building in the world.

What is the weather like in Cologne?

Mild and often cloudy. July highs average 24.9 C (76.8 F) and January highs 5.9 C (42.6 F), with about 802 millimeters (31.6 inches) of rain a year and snow on roughly 10 days.

Source: WDR