German Museums in Cologne

This amazing museum in Cologne, Germany, showcases the best in the history of sports and their ultimate global competition, the Olympics. Created in a gigantic area of 2000 square meters, the Deutsches Sport and Olympia Museum is one of the most comprehensive German Museums covering memorabilia starting from the origin of sports to the history of modern sports. This great museum has thematic sections focused on Olympic Games (especially 1936 Berlin Olympics and 1972 Munich Olympics), Deutsche Turbewegung (the German Gymnastics Movement), sports in ancient Greece, sports, and arts, and sports in Cologne. The museum has over 3000 sports artifacts, documentaries, and media points, offering the history of sports as a delightful and enjoyable experience. The museum is divided into 2 floors, where the upper floor exhibits the permanent collection of sports medals, certificates, equipment, jerseys, memorabilia, and posters of athletes who have been iconic in their respective sports. The museum also hosts many thematic temporary exhibitions, as well. Some of the sports for which memorabilia is displayed in this museum include football, gymnastics, water sports, boxing, cycling, and Formula 1. The upper floor also focuses on some of the most iconic players in the world, such as Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, and Michael Schumacher. There is also a new gallery that addresses BMX, skateboarding, and surfing in addition to these sports. Boris Becker’s tennis racquet, Kaiser Franz’s football boots, Michael Schumacher’s Benetton Renault, and Max Schmeling’s World Championship boxing ring include some of the prized exhibits in this museum. Being one of the best German Museums, the facilities are also world-class. The terrace contains 2 synthetic turfs to play football, tennis, volleyball, or streetball on Cologne’s highest sports ground. The museum is open from 9 AM to 6 PM, with last admission at 5 PM from Tuesday to Friday on normal days and from 11 AM to 7 PM, with last admission at 6 PM on Saturday, Sunday, and other public holidays. The museum remains closed on Monday.

Museum Schnutgen is another museum in Cologne, Germany that is devoted to Christian religious art, starting from the medieval times to the modern period. This is one of the best German Museums for Christian collectibles and memorabilia, ranging from textiles, prints, sculptures, and paintings. The museum houses the collection of Alexander Schnutgen, who was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1865 and was appointed the curator for the Cathedral at Cologne and the chaplain of the Cathedral parish by Bishop Johann Baudri. Becoming a member of the Board of Trustees of the Diocesan Museum in 1875 and being appointed the Cathedral canon by Emperor William I in 1887 gave wings to the ambitions of Schnutgen to create a strong art collection. Museum Schnutgen is just a partial reflection of this massive and awe-inspiring collection, starting with only close to 10 percent of Schnutgen’s collection of close to 13,000 artifacts and art pieces. At present, the collection has more than 2000 items on display in a gallery space of 1900 square meters, with close to 1300 square meters devoted to special exhibitions. Some of the highlights of the collection include a Romanesque wall decor given by St. Cecilia herself; the Cross of St. George’s and many other crucifixes made of wood as well as bronze from the early periods of Christianity; the Comb of St. Heribert, which is a 9th century ivory liturgical comb; a liege baptismal font sculpted by the legendary sculptor, Rainer de Huy; a single leaf from St. Albans Psalter; a Carolingian evangeliary and Harrach Diptych, a Carolingian ivory, among many others. The permanent collection also includes textiles like vestments, stained glasses, and paintings having a strong significance in Christianity. The museum was moved into the Romanesque church of St. Cacilien since 1956, which is where the museum is located even to date. A visit to German Museums would be incomplete without a visit to this awe-inspiring museum.

Kolnisches Stadtmuseum or the Cologne City Museum is the official museum of the city of Cologne in Germany founded in 1888. This museum includes different exhibits portraying the history of the city of Cologne. According to one of the previous directors of the museum, Warner Schafke, this may not be among the greatest German Museums in Cologne, but this is among the greatest German Museums for Cologne and its people. The collection in this museum was housed on the right side of the Rhine River in the former Deutzer Cuirassiers’ barracks. With the increasing collections in the museum, it was shifted to the arsenal building in 1958. The arsenal building in which the collection is housed itself is historically significant, as it was built between 1590 and 1610 during the Renaissance period, making it the oldest largest public brick building in the city. The building was used to house the city’s artillery called Bliden and was called Blidenhaus earlier due to this. Although the permanent exhibition of this museum is currently closed to the public due to renovation, there are periodic special exhibitions that are held at the “Old Guard” , an adjacent building from the Classical era that was built during the time when Cologne became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia in the early 19th century. An interesting feature of the museum is the art installation called the ‘Winged Car’ on the Zeughau Tower on the facade of the museum by the famous German artist HA Schult, which was installed in 1991. Some of the prized exhibits in the permanent collection include the Cologne city seal from 1268, the Cologne silver from 1900, and the Carnival triptych painting made by the famous German artist Max Beckmann in 1942 when he was in exile in Amsterdam. This is one of the popular German Museums in Cologne, frequented by around 70,000 visitors every year. Some loaned exhibitions from other museums, such as Tutankhamun Exhibition held from June to October in 1980, saw a record turnout of 1.3 million people.

Museum Ludwig is one of the most famous German Museums. Arguably, it can be said that this museum is also among one of the most famous in Europe. Museum Ludwig is a museum of modern art created in 1976, which houses some of the prized collections of legendary names in modern art, such as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein. Some of the movements that are showcased include pop art, surrealism, and abstract art. The museum is named after Peter Ludwig, the chocolate baron who founded the extremely successful Ludwig Chocolates, which creates the Trumpf brand of chocolates and is a part of Kruger Group now. Peter Ludwig amassed one of the largest private collections of modern art, where he endowed 350 artworks from his collection, which was valued at 45 million US dollars in 1976. In return, the city of Cologne agreed to build a dedicated museum named after him for exhibiting all works of art made after 1900. The museum, however, had its beginning with the collection of lawyer Josef Haubrich, who presented his expressionism collection to the city in 1946 just after World War 2. This collection includes works by famous German expressionist artists like Erich Heckel, August Macke, and Otto Mueller and also select works by classical modernist artists like Marc Chagall and Otto Dix. This collection is named Sammlung Haubrich. The other part of the collection in the museum is called Sammlung Ludwig, which has an avid collection of Picasso, Russian avant-garde artists, and American pop artists. With 900 works of Picasso, this is the third-largest collection of Picasso’s works, after Barcelona and Paris. With over 600 works of Russian avant-garde artists like Kasimir Malevich and Natalia Goncharova, this is the largest collection of Russian avant-garde paintings outside Russia. The Wolfgang Hahn Prize is also awarded by Museum Ludwig presented during Art Cologne fair. The Wolfgang Hahn Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for modern artists around the world, amounting to 100,000 Euros per year, named in honor of Wolfgang Hahn, the visionary art collector from Cologne. Museum Ludwig is one of the most remarkable German Museums in the city, located beside the Cologne Cathedral.

Imhoff-Stollwerck Museum is one of the most interesting German Museums in Cologne. This is also called the chocolate museum, showcasing the history of chocolate from its early days. Situated on the banks of the River Rhine, this museum is now known as Imhoff Schokoladenmuseum. The museum was started in 1993 by Hans Imhoff, who was a successful chocolatier who rose from selling non-branded chocolates to owning the Hildebrand chocolate company, which is the oldest German chocolate company producing the ‘Scho-Ka-Kola’ brand of chocolates. He later acquired the famous-but-failing Stollwerck chocolate company in 1972 and converted it into a successful business, going on to acquire brands like Sprengel and Sarotti. Currently, the museum is run by Schokoladenmuseum Koln GmbH, in partnership with the Swiss chocolate major, Lindt & Sprungli. The previous partner, Stollwerck, exited in 2006, changing its name from Imhoff-Stollwerck Museum to Imhoff Schokoladenmuseum. Some of the biggest attractions in the museum include the 3-metre high chocolate fountain, where the staff serve you wafers dipped in liquid chocolate on the visit; miniature version of chocolate-making machine, which is similar to the small bar of chocolate given out to the visitors at the entrance; a mini palm house that houses various species of cacao plants, commonly Theobroma cacao and Theobroma grandiflorum; and parts of the museum dedicated to the history of chocolate beginning from the time of Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs. Imhoff Schokoladenmuseum is one of the Top Ten German Museums, receiving over 675,000 visitors every year and conducting close to 5000 guided tours. The museum is so successful and self-sustaining that it does not receive any subsidy from the local or national government agencies. The museum also has its in-house marketing department, that markets this once-in-a-lifetime experience that you can get in Cologne.

The Romisch-Germanisches Museum was formed in 1974 on the site of a 3rd-century Roman villa, which was discovered in 1941 while constructing an air raid shelter on the location. The museum has aggregated archaeological artifacts from the period when Romans were settled in present-day Cologne. The settlement was called Colonia ClaudiaAra Agrippinensium. One of the unique characteristics of the Roman villa, which is preserved on the site of the museum, is the famous Dionysus mosaic in the basement. The location of this museum itself is an archaeological site, and it is situated next to the Cologne Cathedral and close to the Ludwig Museum. Since the mosaic of Dionysus cannot be moved easily, architects Heinz Rocke and Klaus Renner built the museum around the villa itself. In 2007, the museum faced some damages to the glass facade and the Dionysus mosaic during the Cyclone Kyrill, which was repaired in a week. The museum has the largest collection of locally-produced Roman glass vessels in the world on display. The museum also houses the tomb and sepulcher of Poblicius, a legendary soldier of those times. The museum is also famous for having a rich collection of goldsmith works from Germanic people from early Medieval Europe and the burial goods from the graves of Romans and Franks who lived in Cologne between the 5th and 7th century. The vast archaeological collection housed by this museum makes it one of the best German Museums to visit in Cologne.

Wallraf-Richartz Museum is one of the most important German Museums in the city of Cologne, housing art pieces from the medieval period to the early part of the 20th century. The museum was created in 1824, when the medieval art collection of Franz Ferdinand Wallraf, who was an avid art collector, passed to Cologne as an inheritance. The first building for the museum was donated by a merchant named Johann Heinrich Richartz, who was from Cologne. This led to the name of the museum, after the two initial benefactors of the museum. The current building was designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers in 2001. The museum houses some of the best paintings in contemporary art from Josef Haubrich’s collection. After the donation from Peter Ludwig in 1976, thecollection of 20th-century art in the museum was shifted as a collection in a separate institution in the form of Museum Ludwig. Some of the art movements that are showcased in this museum include Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist. There are works of highly renowned artists on display here, such as Albrecht Durer (Renaissance), Rembrandt (Baroque), Stefan Lochner (Gothic), and Monet (Impressionist). The Impressionist and post-Impressionist collection in the museum got a real push with the contribution of 170 works by the famous Swiss collector, Gerard Corboud, in 2001 as a permanent loan. The museum added ‘Fondation Corboud’ in the museum post this. Without a doubt, this is one of the best German Museums to visit when in Cologne.

One of the biggest legacies of Cologne, Germany, in popular culture is the namesake fragrance that originated from this city - cologne or Eau de Cologne. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Cologne has a museum dedicated to fragrances produced in the city historically. We present the Duftmuseum in Farina-Haus or the Farina Fragrance Museum to each one of you, located in front of the Cologne City Hall and near to the famous Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz GmbH is the oldest perfume factory in the world producing eau de Cologne, founded by the Italian perfume maker, Giovanni Maria Farina in the 18th century. The Farina museum is in the original Farina House, which houses the different types of equipment used for distilling the original Farina eau de Cologne. The museum also shows the evolution of cologne over time, with the initial innovation of Farina to the currently manufactured colognes. Due to the unavailability of patent protection back then, Farina’s eau de Cologne, which was the original innovation, was duplicated by many people, and several such imitations and forgeries are also on display in the museum. Farina, as a company, has created an ever-lasting legacy as the inventors of the original eau de Cologne, which was a favorite among royals and the upper class in the 18th century. This museum is one of the most interesting German Museums in Cologne and captures that legacy perfectly.

Germany is a country rich in history, art, and culture. And Cologne has been a strong focal point in the rich tradition and history of Germany. The strong connection that binds the present to this glorious past of this great country and this beautiful city is materialized in the German Museums of Cologne. We have listed down the best museums that Cologne has to offer the quintessential traveler. Be a part of it. Revel in the glory of Cologne. Visit this great city and plan out an itinerary for museum hopping, making sure to cover each one of the above museums. Bon, voyage!