“Who, how, what? Why, why, why? Whoever doesn’t ask remains stupid!” The Sesame Street fans among us have of course long since internalized this vital wisdom. Nevertheless, one doesn’t dare to ask one or the other question. Because it seems too banal – or you simply don’t know who might know the answer. This is where we come in! We follow up for you. Because we think: questions – no matter how simple they are – are not just for children. After all, we always come across strange things in Cologne that leave us amazed or questioning. Do you guys feel the same way? Then send us your questions – we will answer them or look for someone who can.
Stephie asks: What is the ice cream cone on the roof at Neumarkt?
© Christin Otto
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We’ve all seen it before: this huge overturned ice cream cone on the roof of the Neumarkt-Galerie. But some Cologne residents ask themselves: Wat sull da nonsense? Well, as with many strange objects that are around somewhere, the answer is here too: This is art! Everyone has to answer for themselves whether it can go. Because, as is well known, there is no arguing about taste.
Instead, we will serve you a few hard facts: Like every self-respecting work of art, the Cologne ice cream cone of course has a name, albeit not particularly imaginative: It is called “Dropped Cone” and was from that Pop art artist Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosja van Bruggen designed.
By the way, Claes Oldenburg is a real heavyweight when it comes to art – the name of the New Yorker is in the same breath Pop Art Legends like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and also in the collection of the Museum Ludwig you can find a lot of his works, which often criticize consumption.
You don’t even want to calculate how many scoops of real ice cream you could have bought from it.
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But now back to our ice cream cone: the thing is proud ten meters high and weighs incredible three tons. It has been on the roof at Neumarkt since 2001 and: It has whole three million (then still) Deutschmarks cost. You don’t even want to calculate how many scoops of real ice cream you could have bought from it.
Huge Oldenburg sculptures are of course not only found in Cologne: In Frankfurt he immortalized himself for example with an XXL tie under the title “Inverted Collar and Tie” in front of the Westend Tower and in Münster Oldenburg’s giant concrete billiard balls – the “Giant Pool Balls” – lie on the northern bank of the Aa lake.
It is no coincidence that Cologne got an ice cream cone of all things.
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That Cologne of all things Ice cream cone got is by the way no coincidence. Oldenburg and his wife had postcards and souvenirs sent from Cologne in advance and then decided that Cologne was a city of church towers – and that is exactly what the pointed croissant should remind of.
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