RHINE STRONGHOLDS

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17947, 14 November 1918, Page 6

RHINE STRONGHOLDS

CITIES TO BE OCCUPIED. COLOGNE, COBLENTZ. AND MAINZ. Cologne, the capital of the government of Cologne, is situated on the west bank of the Rhine, forty-five miles in,a north-westerly direction from Coblent?;. It is at the junction of several railways, and is opposite Deutz, to which two bridges extend. Its great cathedral, one of the iinest Gothic building?, in the world, is the chief objeco of interest. The city is a fortress of the first class. Cologne carried on a large foreign trade, and also a domestic trade by rail and river. Cologne Was a town of some importance even before the Roman conquest, and many of its buildings are of great historical interest. Its narrow and crooked Streets and its quaint and irregular architecture give it more of the medieval character than most German cities possess. It is the seat of important literary and educational institutions. Coblentsi, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, is on .the Rhine■ at. the influx,of the Moselle, and is forty-nine miles S.S.E. of Cologne. It is well built, and is at the junction of several railways. It has a noble palace* of. the former Electors of Treves, and has many fine churches and public buildings. The Church of St Castor, situated precisely at the confluence of the rivers, is remarkable for its antiquitv, having been founded in the year 830. Hero the grandsons of. Charlemagne met in 843 to divide his vast empire into Germanv, Fiance and Italy. At Ehrenbreitetein, on the opposite side of the Rhino, there is' a t strong fortress, .containing-.-vast arched cisterns, • capable of holding tliree years' supply of water. It was said a low years ago that tho fortifications were capable of accommodating 100,000 men, while the magazines were large enough to contain provisions for 8000 men for ten years. These extensive fortifications rendered Coblentz tho strongest place in the Prussian dominions;

Mainz, or ns it is sometimes called Alontz and. in French Mayerce, is the capital of Ithoin-Hessen, and is situated on the left bank of the Rhine opposite the mouth of tlio Main and twenty miles in a south-westerly direction from Frankfort, with which it is connected by rail. The town is a fortress. The city, situated partly on the flat and partly on an aclivity, rises up gradually from the Rhine in the form of au amphitheatre. It is walled, flanked with bastions, and defended besides by a citadel and several forts and outworks. A bridge of boats 1600 feet lung connects it with its suburb of Castel. The houses are generally lofty and many have a venerable and noble appearance, but as many of the streets are narrow, they exclude both air and light, and give several quarters of the town a dark and confined look. Tlio principal edifices are the cathedral, a vast building of red sandstone, finished in the eleventh century, the merchants' hall, the old collegiate of St Stephen, the Church of St Peter, the Deutsche Halts (now the governor's palace), and the Dalbergischo Palais, now used as courts of justice. One of the objects of interest in the town is the site of the house of Gutenberg, the inventor of movable types. Tho trade of the city, particularly transit is extensive, being greatly facilitated both by water communication and railway. * Mairw owes its foundation to a Roman camp which was converted into a permanent bulwark ajid, became the most important of a line of forts built along the Rhine. On the decline of the power of Rome it was almost entirely destroyed, but it was afterwards restored and became the first ecclesiastical city of the German Empire.