Cologne at the beginning of the 4th century. After the crisis of the third century, the Rhineland has never been at rest again. But in the year 306, one man gradually secured power in the Rhine and led the Roman Empire into its last thirty-year bloom. And where is the beginning? On the Rhine, of course. Admittedly, the emperor, whom one will later call "the Great", resides primarily in Trier. But Constantine, like hardly any other emperor, left visible traces in Cologne through his decrees. The incorporation of the present-day Old Town on the Rhine and the founding of Deutz, an important district of Cologne's city center on the other bank of the Rhine, can be traced back to his imitation. Through Constantine's turning to Christianity, Cologne became the center of early Christianity in the Germanic-Gallic border region.