Städtisches Museum Koenraad Bosman

In Rees on the Lower Rhine the Koenraad-Bosman-Museum plays an important role in presenting local art and town history. The museum is housed in the two-storey, five-bay building of the former Haus Keim, which dates from around 1850. Since its opening in 1997, the museum has displayed its collections across 418 m² of exhibition space; it is named after the Dutch patron Koenraad Bosman (1918–2000) from Berg en Dal.

The displays are twofold, devoted both to the development of the town of Rees and to the visual arts. The town-history section comprises spatially arranged areas that lead chronologically from the beginnings to the present. In the sections on early urban development (5th/8th to 15th centuries) finds and explanatory displays address settlement, the former castle and the present-day Haus Aspel. Reproductions of historical documents — including the city charter of 1228 and a charter concerning the privileges of Rees merchants from 1142 — complement medieval writings such as a missal from the 13th/14th century and seal stamps from the Late Middle Ages.

The section covering 1500 to 1750 provides information on sieges and occupations by Spaniards and French as well as on the military role of the Dutch with Brandenburg's consent. A town model is the focal point of this room; the display is supplemented by photographs of the still-preserved city fortifications and historical engravings of fortifications and territories around 1600. The more recent history from the second half of the 18th century onward highlights topics such as the former district of Rees (1816–1974), the Rhine in past and present, the flood of 1926, Rhine ferries, fishing, the former tobacco industry, as well as the complete destruction in 1945 and the subsequent reconstruction.

Since 2014 there has been an exhibition room on the Jewish tradition in Rees. It documents Jewish life from at least the 14th century — covering the community with its synagogue space and school in the 18th and 19th centuries — up to the persecution by the National Socialists; preserved objects such as a Torah fragment and prayer books are displayed. Stolpersteine commemorate the victims; there is currently no Jewish community in Rees.

The art-historical department is based on the Koenraad Bosman collection and the municipal collection. It displays works by, among others, Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek, Piet Leysing, Ernst Isselmann, Heinz Scholten and Walter Heimig, as well as works by contemporary artists from Rees. This is complemented by an approximately 100 m² exhibition space in the annex, where temporary exhibitions are regularly presented.

Beneath the building a walk-in casemate has been preserved, built around 1500 for light artillery.