Gürzenich – also known as "Cologne’s front parlour".

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  • 1,338

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  • Representative building from the 15th century with a late Gothic façade.

  • Congresses, concerts, balls, social events, seminars

Gürzenich, the impressive structure with the late Gothic façade, which dates back to the year 1447, is still very much in tune with the times when it comes to creating impressive events and lighting emotional fireworks that will long be remembered. Whether seminars, concerts, balls or upscale social events, Gürzenich Köln provides the perfect setting for important, stylish celebrations.

Our spaces

Großer Saal

Details
  • 1,113 m2
  • 1,338

Kleiner Saal

Details
  • 575 m2
  • 490

Isabellensaal

Details
  • 211 m2
  • 280

Marsiliussaal

Details
  • 303 m2
  • 252

Weinkeller

Details
  • 390 m2
  • 350

Ratsstube

Details
  • 141 m2
  • 150

Erdgeschossfoyer

Details
  • 690 m2

Saalfoyer

Details
  • 440 m2

Location in 3D

Food Service

From the foyer to one of the spacious halls in Gürzenich: We create culinary delicacies that suit your event, for you and your guests – with delights in all variations, whether as finger food or a flying dinner, as a buffet or a menu.

Our Partner in the Gürzenich:
Koelncongress Gastronomie GmbH
Fabian Holk
Gastronomy manager
Gürzenich
phone: +49 221 284-8612
fax: +49 221 284-8655
f.holk@koelncongress-gastro.de

Event Requests

Are you an event planner looking to book your event at one of our locations? Or are you an exhibitor at one of Koelnmesse’s trade fair events in search of suitable premises to complement your stand during the trade fair?

From brainstorming and developing a powerful experience concept to all organisational issues, our sales team is available at sales@koelncongress.de to help you make sure your event receives the attention it deserves.
Or submit your non-binding event request here.

Your contacts

Location

Gürzenich is centrally located in Cologne’s city centre, in the immediate vicinity of Cologne Cathedral and the central station.

 

Gürzenich Köln

Martinstraße 29-37
D-50667 Cologne

Arrival

From the central station / cathedral:
Tram line 5 (towards Heumarkt) to the “Heumarkt” stop.

From the “Köln Messe / Deutz” ICE train station:
Tram line 1 (towards Weiden) to the “Heumarkt” stop.
Tram line 9 (towards Sülz Hermeskeiler Platz) to the “Heumarkt” stop.
From the “Heumarkt” stop, it is about a 2-minute walk to Gürzenich.

Hauptbahnhof Köln, Kölner Dom

From the central station / cathedral:
Tram line 5
(towards Heumarkt) to the “Heumarkt” stop

From the “Köln Messe / Deutz” ICE train station:

Tram line 1
(towards Weiden) to the “Heumarkt” stop

Tram line 9
(towards Sülz Hermeskeiler Platz) to the “Heumarkt” stop
From the “Heumarkt” stop, it is about a 2-minute walk to Gürzenich.

20210720_Confex_Anreise_Flugzeug

Unfortunately, Gürzenich does not have its own parking spaces. We therefore recommend arriving by public transport.

You’ll find an overview of the nearest parking garages here.

Tip: The NUNAV navigation app is available free of charge to help you get to your parking space with as little traffic as possible. NUNAV is a collaborative navigation system with real-time traffic forecasts that update every second. It uses artificial intelligence to distribute traffic across the entire road network and not just a few main routes. The system guides you directly to your free event parking space while helping you avoiding traffic in the process.

Commuter traffic on highway leaving Cologne City at night

History

Gürzenich Köln Historie Headerbild

Gürzenich boasts more than 550 years of history as a Cologne venue. After the city’s Rathaus (town hall), today it is considered Cologne’s leading secular structure.

A ‘front parlour’ for the City of Cologne

The City of Cologne’s ‘front parlour’ was built by the City Council as a civic ballroom and market hall between 1441 and 1447. The ground floor was initially used as a market hall, and the festival hall on the upper floor formed a distinguished backdrop for social and political events. This was where Cologne’s guests of honour were received, where festivities were celebrated by emperors and princes – but court sessions and a Reichstag were held here as well.

After serving solely as a market hall from the 17th century, medieval festival-hall tradition of Gürzenich was revived in the 1820s.  With no other Cologne festival hall able to compete with the size or tradition of Gürzenich, the venue soon rose to become Cologne’s top event location – particularly during the Karneval season.

Even before the Festival Committee Cologne Carnival was founded in 1822, the people of Cologne were dancing at masked balls held in Gürzenich. The Gürzenich also became popular as a music venue. Concerts held in Gürzenich formed the basis for Cologne’s international reputation as a music city, with the city’s musicians named the ‘Gürzenich Orchestra’ in recognition of their concert hall.

Its popularity created a need for additional space. 1855 to 1857 marked the construction of the neo-Gothic annex based on plans by Julius Raschdorff; the festival hall was given a new, neo-Gothic design.

An ensemble of modernism and Gothic

Large parts of Gürzenich were destroyed in 1943. Already in 1948, with housing construction still a high priority, the City of Cologne decided to rebuild Gürzenich – sending a clear signal of the structure’s high status among the citizenry of Cologne.

From 1952 to 1955, the Gürzenich building ensemble was constructed from the Gothic walls of Gürzenich and Old St. Alban based on plans by Karl Band and Rudolf Schwarz. Here, modern architecture combines harmoniously, but also in deliberate contrast, with the walls of the Gothic structures. The building ensemble gained national recognition and enriched the Cologne architectural landscape as an extraordinarily high-quality instance of the ‘organic construction’ of the 1950s.

Perfect for smaller and large events

After the Gürzenich Orchestra relocated to the Cologne Philharmonie, which opened in 1986, new areas of use had to be found for the building. As a result, in 1994 KölnKongress Betriebs- und Service GmbH, in which the city of Cologne holds 51% and Koelnmesse 49%, was established as the new operator of Gürzenich.

In 1996 to 1997, the architectural firm KSP Engel Kraemer Schmiedecke Zimmermann Architekten BDA transformed Gürzenich into a restored, updated and expanded event centre with the help of restoration experts and specialised craftsmen and -women, while largely preserving and conserving the listed building structure.

Ever since then, Gürzenich has served as a venue for social and cultural events, congresses and smaller exchanges and exhibitions.