We stroll together through the Melaten Cemetery, enjoying the unique blend of a park and a cemetery in the heart of Cologne. Here, we experience a diverse flora, including a plane tree over 200 years old. Forty different species of animals call this place home, and some will cross our paths.

We'll tell you why the cemetery was established precisely at this location and what Napoleon has to do with it.

Our path takes us past impressive, curious, colourful, and modest gravesites, each telling us their emotional stories. They speak of love, gratitude, inventions, and much more. Along the way, we encounter politicians, actors, and carnival revellers. Together, we discover the versatility that this place holds. All senses are engaged during this tour.

You'll learn how the cheerful people of Cologne view life and death as one, a sentiment that is also very present in the carnival.

Together, we'll explore the central axis of Melaten, the “Millionenallee,” where celebrities found their final resting place. Many of these celebrities you will recognise.

The tour passes by the figure of the Grim Reaper, showing how terrifyingly people in the Middle Ages envisioned death.

You'll experience the tranquility that emanates from this place and discover many personal details that show the departed are not forgotten.

The Melaten tour will answer some of the following questions:

Why is there a tiled stove on the cemetery?
What's the storey behind Hennes being on the cemetery?
How can you also be buried in a celebrity gravesite?
Which queen found her final resting place here?
What experience linked Anna Pavlova to Cologne?