In 1881, the city took over the medieval city wall from the Prussians. The city was bursting at the seams and had no space to implement new building projects. The rings were then built in front of the city wall from 1881. This also meant that there was finally enough building land to construct public buildings such as the Hohenstaufenbad.
By 1899, today’s Hansagymnasium was built on Hansaring. At that time, however, the first commercial school in Cologne was established here. In 1901, the first commercial college in Cologne was inaugurated in the main wing. While only 68 students were enrolled in the first semester, their numbers grew rapidly. By 1905, there were already 304 students. There was soon no longer enough space and so the commercial college was moved to the building of today’s TH am Römerpark in 1907.
The building was then used as a school, although the type of school changed, sometimes it was a secondary school, then a high school, then an upper secondary school. Up to 500 pupils were taught here until the Second World War. The school was badly damaged during the war, later rebuilt and used as a grammar school for around 800 pupils today.
From 2015, the building had to be completely renovated. The school moved into the rooms of the evening high school and has been relocated ever since. Now the construction work seems to be coming to an end. The school is due to move back into the renovated building in 2024. Even if it has taken a long time, today a beautiful, impressive school building from the Wilhelminian era stands again on Hansaring.
