Colonius Tower

The Colonius is the tallest telecommunications tower in North Rhine-Westphalia and stands in Cologne's Neustadt-Nord district on Innere Kanalstraße. Construction began in 1978, and the tower was inaugurated in 1981. Originally 252.9 meters (830 feet) tall, it received a longer antenna mast in the early 1990s, raising its height to 266 meters (873 feet). The mast was extended again in 2004 to allow digital television to be broadcast across the Cologne and Bonn area. The tower was built by Dyckerhoff & Widmann AG and has been listed as a protected monument in the City of Cologne's register of historic landmarks since 2022.

Visitors can climb the tower using two high-speed elevators or a staircase of 925 steps. At a height of 166 meters (545 feet) is a three-story tower cabin. The lower levels house a cafeteria and a restaurant with a rotating seating area. The observation deck in this section, however, has been closed to the public since 1999. The revolving restaurant and the level above it, which was used as a nightclub for a time, are also no longer accessible, as no tenant has been found since 1994. The top floor of the cabin now holds technical equipment belonging to Deutsche Telekom, which once also housed a radio control center.

Although the tower now serves primarily as a transmission mast for radio and television signals, it also has cultural significance. In 2008, for example, it was transformed into a sculpture by a light installation as part of an architecture festival. The Colonius has also served as a filming location for the crime series Tatort. Today the tower broadcasts Radio Erft and digital television channels, among others, and is a distinctive landmark of the Cologne skyline.