The excitement was immense when Cologne City Gazette launched in January that cracks had been discovered in the fabric of the central library at Cologne’s Josef-Haubrich-Hof. When it comes to building statics, Cologne is a traumatized city. Since the historical archive on Severinstraße collapsed on March 3, 2009 because the ground beneath the building had sagged into the neighboring subway construction site, there has hardly been an issue to which local building policy has reacted more sensitively. There were no corresponding sources for the newspaper’s claims.
Despite high costs, Cologne wants to renovate its central library – culture
