A rich collection of paintings from the Middle Ages to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a vast collection of graphic works: miniatures on vellum, rare preparatory drawings by great artists, printed graphics - attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum every day.
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum is the largest museum in the world.
The son of an ordinary tailor, archaeologist, doctor of medicine and philosophy, rector of the University of Cologne Ferdinand Franz Wallraf repeatedly expressed to the authorities his desire to give the city the collection of paintings he had collected all his life. In his youth he was interested in masterpieces of Italian, Dutch and Flemish art. Later in his house began to appear old German paintings, rescued from the destroyed and looted by French soldiers of the monasteries and castles in the neighbourhood of Cologne.
How it all began
According to the scientist's will in 1824, his collection of painting objects was donated to the city on condition that it remained accessible to the mass public. The Walrafium - as the exhibition was named - first opened its doors in the former archbishop's residence, a stately building at 7 Trunkgasse, opposite Cologne Cathedral. Subsequently, other museums in the city sprang up around it, as well as the city and university libraries.
The small room in the eighteenth-century building initially proved cramped for the extensive collection. Proposals to expand the area for the collection came repeatedly, and the city authorities themselves realised the need to find or build a new building, but the treasury lacked finances.
The collection was not enough.
Only in 1854 a huge sum for the construction was donated by one of the Cologne businessmen I.G.Richartz, but he expressed the requirement that the architect of the building for the new museum was E.F.Zvirner. The townspeople gratefully accepted the erection of a beautiful structure on the site of the Minorite monastery between the Cologne Cathedral and the Rhine. And in the summer of July 1861, the museum opened under the name of the Wallraf-Richartz. It differed from most art collections of its time in that its exhibits reflected the taste of the bourgeoisie rather than the court nobility, so it enjoyed great success among lovers of painting from different social strata.
In addition, the museum at the time proved to be the only one of its kind, unlike the royal collections of Italian paintings, and provoked the emergence of the so-called "little treasuries", collections of a new type consisting of various rarities. After World War I, the museum's exposition was enriched with a large number of canvases by avant-garde contemporaries and continued to display masterpieces of art to all comers.
During World War II
Dark times for the museum's collection came after fascism came to power. Many names in art history became banned. Some canvases from museums were confiscated by the National Socialists for various exhibitions. As a result, priceless creations by Picasso, Munch, Gauguin, Matisse, Kandinsky were lost for many treasuries Germany. The same fate did not spare the exhibits from the collections of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum.
In 1942, entire streets and neighbourhoods in Cologne were badly damaged by shells from British aircraft carriers. Most buildings in the city were reduced to rubble, including the house that housed the Walraff Collection. Fortunately, there were hardly any valuable exhibits left in the museum, all of which had been moved to a safe haven in advance. But there was no place to house all the exhibitions even after the war.
The Wallraf-Richartz and Ludwig Museums under one roof
The rebuilding of the city stretched for a long three-plus decades. It was not until 1956 that a new building was built on the site of the destroyed building, and the Walraf's brainchild was once again available to citizens and travellers wishing to see the priceless masterpieces of art.
The building was rebuilt in 1956.
The museum's expositions were periodically enriched with new acquisitions. Even before the war, paintings by F.Hals and Rembrandt from the Carstagnen collection were added to the collection of paintings, immediately after the end of hostilities in 1946, the lawyer D.Hobrich presented the museum with paintings by German Expressionists and Modernists.
The museum's collection of paintings was enriched with paintings by F.Hals and Rembrandt from the Carstagnen collection.
And in 1976 the spouses from Aachen Irene and Peter Ludwig donated their impressive collection (about 350 paintings) of European and American art of the 20th century. The number of exhibits increased and the question of expanding the space arose again. The city authorities proposed to move the Walraf-Richartz art collection to another building near Cologne Cathedral, and the Museum of Applied Arts was opened in the former one.
The remaining exhibition was divided, establishing the Ludwig Family Museum, but the two collections continued to coexist under the same roof for several more years. This remained the case until 1994, when the Ludwigs gave the museum another collection of Picasso's works. Space for exhibitions became disastrously scarce, and the city authorities decided to build a new house for paintings and other works of art.
Corbeau Foundation
The author of the project for the new house for the museum was O.M. Ungers, a famous German neo-nationalist architect. The laconic cube-shaped building he designed was completed in January 2001.
The new house for the museum was designed by O.M. Ungers, a well-known German neo-nationalist architect.
In the same year, the museum received its unique collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from the entrepreneur G. Korbo. And today the name of one of the oldest museums in Cologne is added to the name of the Corboud Foundation.
Photo: Raimond Spekking. Source: Wikipedia
Virtual tour
One of the most valuable collections not only in Germany but also in the whole of Europe is located on three floors of the Obenmarspforten (am Koelner Rathaus) building in Cologne.
The Medieval Painting Department is housed in the museum on the ground floor. Its large collection of altarpieces by Cologne and other European masters is considered one of the most numerous worldwide. The unusual presentation of the exhibits in the exhibition builds a bridge of understanding between our modern everyday world and the art of the Middle Ages. For example, fifteen panels from the cycle "Ursula" are arranged on the walls in such a way that they tell the story of the saint and eleven thousand other martyred virgins in the form of a fascinating comic book.
On the first floor there is an exposition of Dutch, Flemish, Italian paintings of the XIV-XVII century, represented by paintings of the greatest masters - Jordaens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens and others.
On the third floor of the Wallraf Museum are numerous paintings by such masters as Lenbach, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Signac, Ensor and Munch. Thanks to the Corbeau Foundation, the museum has the most extensive collection of Neo-Impressionist works in Germany.
The museum offers visitors not only permanent exhibitions, but also a new foyer, an excellent café and a museum shop with its wide range of merchandise. A panoramic window on the 3rd floor offers a wonderful view of Cologne Cathedral, the Town Hall, St Martin's Cathedral and the surroundings of Cologne.
The most valuable exhibits
The core of the world-famous Cologne collection consists of church murals that Ferdinand Franz Walraf saved when monasteries and collegiate institutions ceased to exist during the Napoleonic period. Among the most important pieces are the altar of the Holy Cross by the Master of the Altar of St Bartholomew, Albrecht Dürer's The Drummer and the Flautist and Stephan Lochner's Madonna in Roses. The latter, also known as the "Mona Lisa of Cologne," has a special place in the gallery thanks to its fascinating story.
Peter Paul Rubens, the renowned artist from Antwerp, is represented by a number of works spanning all periods of his artistic life. First of all, the large-format "Juno and Argus", dating from 1610, impresses visitors with its vivid, breathtaking pictorial language. The work of Rembrandt van Rijn, undoubtedly the most important Dutch artist, is represented by his late self-portrait. The mysterious masterpiece is considered one of the most brilliant Baroque works. Of considerable value and particular mystery in the museum is the "Male Portrait" by an unknown Dutch master, dating from 1520.
Among the most valuable exhibits in the Department of Drawings and Prints is the "Chapel of Sophia van Bilant" (1475) with an illustration by the famous Cologne Master of the St Bartholomew Altarpiece, as well as drawings by many artists, including Leonardo, Dürer, Bandinelli, Rubens, Rembrandt, Engr, Rodin, Ensor, Munch, Liebermann and Corinth.
The Museum's drawings and prints are also of great value.
How to get there
There are underground and light rail stations close to the museum, accessed by routes 1 and 9 (Heumarkt station), 5 (Rathaus stop) and 16, 18 (Dom/Hauptbahnhof station). The S-Bahn high-speed trains of the city railway system numbered 6, 11, 12, 13 also take passengers to Dom/Hauptbahnhof station.
You can visit the Wallraf-Richarz Art Gallery by taking buses 106, 132, 133, 133, 250, 260, 978, N26 to the Heumarkt stop.
Opening hours:
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Tuesday to Sunday - from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
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Thursdays - 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.;
Non-working days:
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Monday;
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Christmas;
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New Year;
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Thursday of Shrovetide Week.
Tickets cost between 6-8.5 euros, children under 18 visit the expositions free of charge.
