Museumsdienst Köln

In the heart of Cologne’s city centre at Großen Griechenmarkt 39, Literaturhaus Köln presents contemporary German-language and international literature and regards itself as a forum for reading culture and literary mediation.

The institution was founded in 1996; the non-profit association Literaturhaus Köln e.V. now has around 700 members and is thus one of the literature houses in Germany with a relatively large membership. From 1999 the association had its own premises in the Cologne Mediapark. In 2007 the house moved to the Südstadt and for a time shared premises there with the Forum für Fotografie. Also since 2007 there has been a dedicated programme for children’s and youth literature under the label Junges Literaturhaus Köln. In 2014 the Literaturhaus relocated its programme to the city centre and has since used event and office rooms in Haus Bachem, a listed building between Neumarkt and St. Georg.

Haus Bachem has a long history: by the end of the 13th century there were already gardens on the site, which in 1280 passed to the patrician family Saphiren. The archiepiscopal chamberlain had two buildings erected there, the Großen and the Kleinen Bachem; of the 16th-century structures mainly the cellar vaults have survived. The Große Bachem that survives today went through a variety of uses—wine tavern, brewery and restaurant among them, as well as commercial post-war usages—and endured severe war damage, with foundations, a baroque cherrywood staircase and historic Hängestuben preserved. Since 2014 the lower two floors of the house have been set up as event and work spaces for the Literaturhaus.

The Literaturhaus’s programme combines traditional reading formats with experimental approaches. The focus is on both established and lesser-known authors from the German-speaking area and internationally. Formats include an interdisciplinary poetry festival (Satelliten) and a comic festival that alternates annually, as well as the reading format Zwischenmiete Köln for young literature in changing residential spaces. Cooperations enable the integration of events from the international literature festival Poetica as well as award ceremonies such as the NRW-Förderpreis für Literatur and the Rolf-Dieter-Brinkmann-Stipendium. The house is a member of the Netzwerk der Literaturhäuser.