Bastei

Bastei is an expressionist restaurant building that juts out over the Rhine's edge, marked by a steel-framed upper floor and a distinctive pointed crown at its center. The structure leverages its position above the water to offer diners views of the river.

Wilhelm Riphahn designed this expressionist structure in 1924, which needed rebuilding after severe war damage in 1943 and reopened as a modern restaurant in 1958. The restored building embodied Cologne's post-war revival and renewal.

The name Bastei refers to the bastion that once stood here to protect the city from the river. Visitors can still sense this defensive history in how the building connects to the Rhine and the neighborhood around it.

The building is easily accessible from the riverside walkway and offers direct views of the river and the opposite bank. Visitors should know the location is currently closed but can be viewed from outside as an architectural landmark.

The building's lower level rests on the foundations of a former Prussian military structure from 1891 that once guarded the harbor entrance. This hidden layer of military engineering remains beneath the restaurant's elegant modern design.