Kolumba (museum)

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Exterior view of the new Kolumba building (2007)
Detailed view of the outer wall, in September 2007

Kolumba is the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne and, next to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, the oldest museum in Cologne . The new name is based on the new building opened on September 15, 2007 by the Swiss architect and Pritzker Prize winner of 2009 Peter Zumthor for the museum on the site of the late Gothic church of St. Kolumba, which was destroyed in the war .

history

The museum was founded in 1853 by the Christian Art Association for the Archdiocese of Cologne and in 1989 became the sponsorship of the Archdiocese of Cologne . Based on the traditional collection structure of the Diocesan Museum, founded in 1853, Kolumba sees itself as an art museum under church ownership, which aims to present questions of artistic design in a comprehensive way beyond all disciplines and specializations. As a “museum of thoughtfulness”, Kolumba sees itself as an offer to deal with life that has become art.

building

Foundations / excavations of the destroyed Romanesque church of St. Kolumba, in September 2007

Until April 9, 2007, the museum was located in close proximity to Cologne Cathedral on Roncalliplatz.

According to the plans of the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor , a new building was built (laying of the foundation stone on October 1, 2003), which Cardinal Meisner inaugurated on September 15, 2007.

Architecturally, the new building also represents the presentation concept of the “living museum”. Peter Zumthor implemented the principle of juxtaposing old and new in setting the new building on the original floor plan and the remains of the wall of St. Kolumba. The brick of the new building, which is bricked from view and fired especially for this building, is harmoniously combined with the natural and brick masonry of the Romanesque church of St. Kolumba, which was destroyed in the Second World War, and the cement stones of the post-war building. In this way, the architecture of the museum faces the building-historical continuum and becomes part of it itself.

In the interior, the building is designed as a museum of spiritual verticality, which invites you to linger. The exhibition rooms develop their atmosphere through the prevailing impression of the changing daylight, artificial light sources are deliberately avoided. The numerous floor-to-ceiling glass fronts create the impression of a fusion of interior and exterior space. In this way, the “living museum” is embodied here again, the boundaries are blurred and an atmosphere of openness and unlimitedness is created.

The new building incorporates both the foundations of the Romanesque church of St. Kolumba , which was destroyed in the Second World War , and the “ Madonna in the Ruins ” chapel built in its place by the Cologne architect Gottfried Böhm .

The collection

Ivory crucifix (2nd half of the 12th century)
Violet Madonna, showpiece of the museum
Lochner: Madonna with the violet

The collection ranges from late antiquity to the present, from Romanesque sculpture to room installation, from medieval panel painting to radical painting , from the Gothic ciborium to everyday objects of the 20th century. The search for an overarching order, for measure, proportion and beauty is the guiding principle of the heterogeneous collection as a connecting element of all artistic design. The focus is on early Christianity (outstanding Coptic and Syrian fabrics), painting, sculpture and goldsmithing from the 11th to 16th centuries (including Herimann crucifix with Roman lapis lazuli head , Romanesque crucifix from Erp , Stefan Lochner's Madonna with the violet ), chasubles and parchment manuscripts as well as certificates of popular piety and one of the most complete collections of rosaries .

In 1996, this collection was greatly enriched by the Härle donation, which contains two thirds of what was once the most important German private collection of medieval sculptures. The 19th century is represented by painting, hand drawing and religious prints. In the area of ​​classical modernism, it was possible to build up a collection that plays an essential role as a bridgehead between the 19th century and contemporary art. The donation of the partial estate of Andor Weininger , which was of great importance at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, set a milestone in 1999. In the modern age, the collection activity is directed towards artistic discourses on issues of human existence that are of particular importance to the Church. Representatives of these discourses are u. a. Herbert Campendonk, Hermann Stenner , Alexej von Jawlensky , Gerhard Marcks and Georges Rouault . On the avant-garde of the 1970s, Kolumba houses works by artists such as Joseph Beuys , Manolo Millares , Antonio Saura and Antoni Tàpies . The museum also has the world's largest collection on Paul Thek . In the field of contemporary art there are individual works as well as groups of works, etc. a. by Louise Bourgeois , Peter Dreher , Herbert Falken , Leiko Ikemura , Rebecca Horn , Roni Horn , Attila Kovács , Wolfgang Laib , Thomas Lehnerer , Joseph Marioni , Rune Mields , Agnes Martin , Thomas Rentmeister , Chris Newman , Richard Tuttle and Darío Villalba. The focus of the collection is on paper sketches, drafts and series of drawings.

A special purchase was made in 1999 with the support of various cultural foundations and private patrons from the property of Eugen zu Oettingen-Wallerstein : It is a Romanesque ivory crucifix that art historians date to the second half of the 12th century and assign it to the Rhenish-Maasland tradition. The 53 cm tall sculpture of the Corpus Christi is characterized by high plasticity and, for the early days, extraordinary precision of facial features and hair. After suffering has been overcome, the face bears peaceful and very human-individual features.

The living museum

The living museum does not differentiate between a permanent collection and a temporary exhibition. It shows works from its own collection in changing contexts, changing several times a year. Characteristic of the almost private ambience are the lack of object lettering and the coexistence of the works regardless of chronological, historical or media context. Apart from a few main works, which are always in their place as identifying works, only a selection of the collection is exhibited at the same time, the staging of which follows changing viewpoints.

The constant juxtaposition of old and contemporary art creates a dialogue between the memory or past of the collection and the present of the viewer. This dialogue finds a meaningful and in-depth continuation in guided tours and events on music, theology and philosophy. Furthermore, the examination of the works of art can be deepened in essays on individual works, which are available free of charge, in the use of the library or in recourse to the series of publications in the museum.

In the series Stars for Kolumba , works from the most varied areas of the collection and monographic works will be presented over the next few years. The dialogue between the works increases their possibilities for experience and interpretation. Not least because of this, solo exhibitions (such as Andy Warhol - Crosses or Joseph Marioni - Triptych ) are remembered as well as the themed exhibitions dealing with questions inherent in art (About color , About ambivalence , About reality).

Since 1993 the series has shown … in the window contemporary individual positions. The museum with its concept has been a guest abroad several times and has entered into unfamiliar contexts (including the Kölnischer Kunstverein , Kunsthalle Baden-Baden , St. Peter's Church and Art Station , Cologne, Schauspielhaus Köln ). Kolumba is represented internationally with loans from Bilbao to Brisbane, from New York to Berlin. The series of major manuscript exhibitions that the museum has shown ( Vaticana 1992, Die Kölner Dombibliothek 1998, ars vivendi - ars moriendi 2001) is understood as a trilogy .

The new presentation of the own art collection changes on September 14th of each year, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (after a two-week closure).

In “Room 10”, the series of contemporary positions is continued every quarter. An artist's booklet is published for each.

Important museum holdings

Annual exhibitions

  • 2007: Inaugural exhibition "The infinite space expands" (September 15, 2007 to August 31, 2008), the museum presented itself in this first annual exhibition as a memory landscape with a deep insight into the two thousand year history of the city. The museum concept first manifested itself through the exhibition of contemporary and medieval art. Issued were u. a. a Gothic reliquary folding altar, crucifix from Erp, books of hours from the König Collection, church treasure of St. Kolumba, icon altars, Ottonian ivory relief as well as works by Josef Albers, Monika Bartholomé, Georg Baumgarten, Joseph Beuys, Heinz Breloh and Karl Burgeff.
  • 2008: “Man leaves the earth” (September 14, 2008 to August 31, 2009), this annual exhibition revolved around man's responsibility for creation and the cosmic conceptions of the world as they become visible in artistic designs. In the arc of tension between the various media and in the course of the centuries, existential conditions of man were discussed as well as the possibilities of his redemption. The media spectrum ranged from medieval books of hours, sculptures and paintings to contemporary video and room installations. A highlight of the exhibition was the presentation of the Romanesque decorative floor of the parish church of St. Pankratius from Oberpleis.
  • 2009: “Legacy” (September 14, 2009 to August 30, 2010), the third annual Kolumba exhibition dealt with what remains. Traces of human existence were shown, which are reflected in documents, everyday objects, but also in artistic work. The value of memory and responsibility for the historical legacy, of which the Kolumba itself is an example, was also discussed. Some of the highlights of the exhibition marked significant donations in times of economic recession, such as the terrifyingly veristic late medieval bowl with the head of John or the relief with Christ from the Way to Golgotha ​​(both acquired with funds from the Renate König Foundation), the extensive artist's books Donation by Edith and Steffen Missmahl, the 250 wedding photos from the Manfred Morchel collection (donated by Jochen Heufelder) or a major work by the Rhenish expressionist Walter Ophey (from private collection).
  • 2010: 4th annual exhibition “Noli me tangere! Don't touch me / don't hold me tight ”(September 15, 2010 to July 31, 2011), the current annual exhibition is an exhibition about the sphere and the integrity of the individual to be preserved. With 19 room installations in the 4th annual exhibition in the new building, the museum invites you to pause and reflect on works of art from two millennia and fundamentally think about presence and absence, proximity and distance, desire and respect. To be exhibited u. a. Showcase with Man of Sorrows, Ecce Homo relief, Romanesque crucifix from Erp, ivory diptych with passion and apparition scenes, works and groups of works by Johann von der Auvera , Krimhild Becker , Anna and Bernhard Johannes Blume , Heinz Breloh and many more.
  • 2011/12: 5th annual exhibition (September 15, 2011 to August 31, 2012): »Think«. In memoriam Walter Warnach . The exhibition was devoted to ways of experiencing the world . The book was the focus of the presentation with a focus on artist books from the Missmahl donation. Works were exhibited that range from a late medieval » ars memorandi « (art of remembering) to »little love happiness«, from Madonnas enthroned, the » sedes sapientiae « (seat of wisdom) to beautifully designed typewriters, discarded tools of the Representing thinking (by Monika Bartholomé , Krimhild Becker , Victoria Bell , Joseph Beuys , John Cage , Attila Kovács , Thomas Lehnerer , Rune Mields , Manos Tsangaris , Josef Wolf or Peter Zumthor ).
  • 2012/13: 6th annual exhibition in Memoriam Joseph Geller: Art is Liturgy. Paul Thek and the others (September 15, 2012 to August 15, 2013). The focus is on the artist's most extensive collection of works, which is in the museum's possession and is exhibiting the main works in public for the first time after a tour of America. You enter into a lively dialogue with other exhibits in the collection.
  • 2014/15: playing by heart (September 15, 2014 to August 24, 2015): On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes, the focus is on works on the subjects of "Joy and Hope".

Awards

Quote

“To sensitize perception: We want a living museum related to the reality and the dignity of what is already there, space-creating architecture, restrained and durable materials, a minimum of technology, simplicity and functionality in detail, careful and material-appropriate execution, a matter of course Place for people and art "

- Preamble to the 1997 architectural competition

Press reviews

“A masterpiece of modernism that has also been celebrated by the critics, Kolumba seems to be the complete opposite of Cologne: reserved, noble, calm and harmonious. And yet the construction of the Swiss is a declaration of love for the city. The architect let huge windows in the light facade that reach down to the floor. They direct the gaze to the buildings in the neighborhood, the various layers of post-war architecture with the spiers of the cathedral in the background - the view becomes a framed picture that sharpens the view on the beautiful details of the 50s, the lightness, but also that Shows ugly as part of the whole ensemble. It is precisely the patchwork aesthetic that Merlin Bauer believes: the more he deals with it, the more exciting he finds it. "

- Der Tagesspiegel, everyone can be beautiful, February 24, 2008

“Anyone who loves leisure in a museum, who wants to get involved in the works of art without being distracted by room-filling comments and explanations that unintentionally abuse their ears, has a unique opportunity here. Even a double. One can approach art, whether medieval or contemporary, quite impartially, even naively. Because the usual signs and object labels, which often impair the aesthetic effect in exhibitions as foreign objects, were also dispensed with. Nevertheless, the visitor is not left to ignorance. A slim, handy booklet as an addition to the admission ticket lists who created what and when - occasionally supplemented with two or three sentences on the intellectual background. "

- Peter Dittmar : The Silence Returns, Die Welt, October 30, 2007

"The exhibition changes once a year, in which only the own collection is presented in a special selection. [...] With a small (free) informative booklet that replaces the labeling of the objects, the visitor goes on a discovery tour with a number of highlights . This includes the room-filling double DVD projection 'Crocodiles lurk in still ponds', in which Marcel Odenbach subjectively documents the fragile coexistence of perpetrators and victims after the genocide in Rwanda. In the next room there are animal figures by Erich Bödeker and an embroidered altar hanging from the 14th / 15th centuries. Century, on which a unicorn turns its head to the Virgin Mary after the hunt, opposite. […] Manos Tsangaris built his installation, in which a person sits in the center, as a 'low-tech machine' for a playful and immediate perspective between inside and outside. From here it is only a small step to the decorative floor from the time of 1220. The cosmos image from the parish church in Oberpleis, common in the Middle Ages, relates people, time and the world to one another. Kolumba has remained a meditative, a poetic place. "

- Gudrun von Schoenebeck : General-Anzeiger Bonn, November 13, 2008

Management of the museum

Since Joachim Plotzek said goodbye in 2008, the director has been the art historian Stefan Kraus .

Movies

literature

  • Kolumba: An architecture competition in Cologne 1997 / Archbishop's Diocesan Museum . König, Cologne 1997. ISBN 3-88375-299-1 .
  • Selection one , edited, edited and with texts by Joachim M. Plotzek, Katharina Winnekes, Stefan Kraus, Ulrike Surmann and Marc Steinmann, with the collaboration of Michael Dodt, Joachim Oepen, Sven Seiler and Vera Gilgenmann, photographs by Lothar Schnepf (Kolumba Volume 2 ), ISBN 3-931326-56-X .
  • Selection two , edited and with texts by Stefan Kraus, Katharina Winnekes, Ulrike Surmann and Marc Steinmann with the collaboration of Eva Maria Klother and Joachim M. Plotzek, photographs by Hélène Binet and Lothar Schnepf (Kolumba Volume 35), ISBN 978-3-9813182 -4-1 .
  • Paul Thek inventory catalog . Shrine (KOLUMBA workbooks and books, volume 38) , ed. by Stefan Kraus, Ulrike Surmann, Marc Steinmann and Barbara von Flüe, with texts by Joachim M. Plotzek, Dirk Teuber, Michael Nickel, Friedhelm Mennekes , Jean-Christophe Ammann , Susanne Neubauer and Katharina Winnekes, Druckhaus Duisburg OMD 2012, ISBN 978- 3-9813182-7-2 (also available in English).
  • Ulrike Surmann, Johannes Schröer (Ed.): Despite nature and appearance. Eucharist - Change and Worldview , Greven Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-7743-0611-0 .
  • Elke Backes: Kolumba. The evolution of a museum , B. Kühlen Verlag, Mönchengladbach 2015, ISBN 978-3-87448-399-5 .

Web links

Commons : Kolumba (Museum)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elke Backes: Kolumba. The evolution of a museum B. Kühlen Verlag, Mönchengladbach 2015, ISBN 978-3-87448-399-5 , p. 39 ( 4. Architecture and concept of Kolumba; 4.1 floor plan, material and statics )
  2. ↑ http://www.kolumba.de/?language=ger&cat_select=1&category=1&artikle=420 Homepage Kolumba, accessed on October 3, 2012
  3. ↑ Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA) Nike 2013 - Nike for Atmosphere , accessed on June 25, 2013
  4. ↑ art das kunstmagazin from November 18, 2013 Kolumba in Cologne is Museum of the Year (dpa) ( Memento from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 18, 2013
  5. ^ German Foundation Center: Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge Prizes for Unconventional Art Education , accessed on November 14, 2017
  6. ↑ http://www.kolumba.de/?language=ger&cat_select=1&category=18&preview= Homepage Kolumba (Cologne), accessed on September 30, 2012
  7. ↑ Deutschlandfunk nuances. Music and questions on the person from June 9, 2019 , accessed on June 9, 2019

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '18.3 "  N , 6 ° 57' 15.4"  E