The Bastei on the Rhine
Contrary to what is often believed, the Bastei is not part of the medieval fortress wall. It is what remains of the Prussian fortification at the Sicherheitshafen which was located where the Theodor-Heuss-Ring is today. When the new city was being built after 1880, the Sicherheitshafen was filled up and a pond is its only reminder.
Of the port itself, only the basement of the caponier, which once secured the entrance of the port, remains. On this stump, the Cologne architect, Wilhelm Riphahn (1889–1963), placed his restaurant building Bastei in 1923/24. Riphahn had studied at the Cologne Baugewerkeschule and completed various internships, such as with the Taut brothers and the Dresden city planning commissioner, Erlwein, before he started his own business in 1913. Initially, his residential buildings were characterised by restrained, neo-baroque forms. With the Bastei, however, he made a breakthrough - stylistically as well as professionally. Riphahn established himself as a dedicated champion of the New Building and his reputation as a planner of functionalist housing estates was cemented. For the plan to build a “super-modern restaurant” on the caponier, Riphahn enlisted Adolf G. Worringer, the Director of the Cologne Zoo restaurant.
The restaurant project was – as was expected to happen in Cologne – controversial in public; the main concern was that the view of the cathedral would be marred. Only after a model in a 1:1 scale was set up at the intended site were people reassured. By hollowing out the meters-thick walls of the tower, Riphahn created space in three levels for a wine cellar, storerooms, offices, and toilets, in addition to a double-flight staircase over a circular ground plan. Radially arranged steel beams support the restaurant platform. The centre of the dining area forms a tent-like vaulted structure resting on pillars, which is visible as a slated tip from the outside. Inside, the pillars were surrounded by a semi-circular seating area which in turn was surrounded by the terrace. Due to the strong winds, the terrace had to be closed relatively soon after the opening; Riphahn had the glass parapet removed and replaced with prismatic glass panes. In the 2nd World War, the Bastei, too, was severely damaged, but the architect himself planned the slightly modified reconstruction in 1958.
For many years, the Bastei, which reopened on 5 December 1958, was one of Cologne’s flagship restaurants. The tourist office, from the archive of which the photograph shown here comes, was glad to use the motif. The restaurant is now closed and can be rented for events. The Bastei also found its literary expression. In the late 1920s, Joachim Ringelnatz (1883–1934) stayed in Cologne several times. He had mentioned the Bastei as early as 1928: “Ich sitze – und niemand sonst ist dabei / Vor blinkenden Lichtern in der Bastei” „I am sitting here - no one to say hi / Infront of blinking lights in the Bastei” (Nach kurzer Fahrt getrennt (Separated after a short journey)). A visit made one night produced a poem published in 1932 with the title Köln von der Bastei aus gesehen (Cologne seen from the Bastei) which ends with the verses: “Ich wünsche: Es möchte sich die Bastei / Jetzt karussellartig drehen.” “I wish for the Bastei / to turn like a carrousel”