Cologne 1635

This print, titled "Cologne," was made by Wenceslaus Hollar, a prolific and widely travelled 17th-century Bohemian printmaker. Hollar’s print provides a bird's-eye view of the city of Cologne, a major urban center within the Holy Roman Empire. The image is dominated by the windmill in the foreground and the skyline of Cologne itself, complete with its many church towers. Consider the social and economic importance of Cologne as a trading hub on the Rhine. Its civic structure, including guilds and religious institutions, would have shaped daily life. What, then, does it mean to capture the image of a city at this moment in time? To answer this question one could study city plans, guild records, and contemporary accounts. This print is not just a depiction of a place; it's a record of a society and its institutions. We can understand a lot about the early modern world by looking at what the image-makers chose to emphasize.