Museum Schnütgen

In the Altstadt-Süd district of Cologne, Museum Schnütgen preserves and displays an extensive collection of Christian art with a focus on the Middle Ages. Its exhibition program links the Romanesque basilica of St. Cäcilien, which has housed the museum since 1956, with the new building completed in 2010 in the Kulturquartier at Neumarkt, which significantly expanded the exhibition space.

The collection traces back to Alexander Schnütgen’s donation of 1906; the objects were initially displayed in an annex of the Museum of Decorative Arts and were later moved to the Heribertkloster in Deutz. War-related impacts led to the relocation and partial destruction of holdings. After World War II the collection was reunited and reopened in St. Cäcilien; in the following decades there were several reorganizations, phases of expansion and a comprehensive renovation in the early 21st century. The expansion in the Kulturquartier created, for the first time, space to publicly show important stained glass and many items previously kept in storage.

Today the holdings comprise more than 13,000 objects, of which only a fraction can be exhibited at any one time. The collection focuses on works from the 11th to the 15th centuries from the Rhineland, complemented by pieces from later periods and other European cultural spheres, such as Byzantium. Typical groups include Romanesque and Gothic wood and stone sculptures, ivory works, goldsmithing, liturgical vestments and textiles, as well as one of Europe’s significant collections of medieval stained glass.

Outstanding exhibits include the torso of the crucifix from St. Georg, the Aachener Madonna, the Goldene Tafel from St. Ursula and the Harrach-Diptychon (long-term loan). The museum also functions as a research institute for medieval studies and is regarded alongside institutions such as the Cloisters in New York and the Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris in the international museum landscape. Numerous catalogues and scholarly publications document the holdings and the museum’s historical development.