Description of the attraction
The oldest museum in Cologne is the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, located 400 meters from the cathedral. The first mention of this building dates back to 1824, it was at that time that a museum was formed, which was the testament of Ferdinand Walraf, rector of the university and canon of Cologne. He handed over to the city his entire large collection, which included various church things that were confiscated as a result of secularization. Only three years later, the collection partially became available to the general public.
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum has a rich history of almost two centuries; during its entire existence, it had a chance to change four buildings. The last cube-shaped structure was opened in 2001 by the architect Oswald Unger. The museum includes 3, 5 thousand square meters, allocated for exhibition halls, it houses paintings and graphics from the Middle Ages. 2001 brought an invaluable replenishment to the museum: the collector from Switzerland Gerard Corbu donated his collection of Impressionist paintings.
Among the collections of the 13th-16th centuries, you can see a collection of works by Walraf, who took altars for storage in monasteries and churches that were subjected to secularization. The most famous exhibits are works by Stefan Lochner, as well as by Albrecht Dürer and the masters of the Cologne school. The exhibition of art of the 16th-17th centuries is presented to visitors mainly by the canvases of François Boucher, Peter Rubens and other students of the Dutch school.
The number of exhibits in the collection of graphics reaches 75 thousand, here you can see a wide variety of miniatures made on parchment, as well as sketches and drawings that cover the period from the Middle Ages to the XX century.
