-- Cruises

-- Vineyards

-- Cologne

---- Cathedral

---- Museum

---- Lodging

-- Bonn

-- Remagen

-- Koblenz

-- Enemy Brothers

-- Schoenburg

-- Sankt Goar

-- Rheinfels

-- Marksburg

-- Gutenfels and Pfalz

-- Lorelei

-- Ruedesheim

-- Stahleck

-- Reichenstein

-- Rheinstein

-- Lodging

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-- Copyright © Don Douglas
-- http://www.dondouglas.com

The Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne houses a trove of ancient artifacts.. Numerous discoveries depict life in the Roman city of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, the city we now know as Cologne in English and Köln in German. In addition to artifacts from Cologne, many of those found around other former Roman settlements and cities, such as Xanten and Kalkar, are now housed here.

One of the artifacts on display is the Philosopher Mosaic which was discovered in 1844 during construction work at a Cologne hospital. It depicted seven philosophers in all, but two were missing. Renderings of Plato and Aristotle were then added by the painter, Kartons of Ramboux. The other five are Diogenes, Kleobulos, Socrates, Cheilon and Sophocles. The mosaic was originally displayed at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in 1863. It was severely damaged during WWII. In 1967, restored, it was installed at the Romano-Germanic Museum. The Philosopher Mosaic is for some reason less famous than the Dionysus Mosaic, which is also on display at the museum.