Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Art museum in Düren, Germany.
The Leopold-Hoesch-Museum is an art museum in Düren, Germany, housed in a neo-Baroque stone building designed by Georg Frentzen and opened in 1905. Its entrance is flanked by two bronze sculptures, Studium and Phantasie, by Karl Krauß. A glassy extension by Peter Kulka, the Günther Peill Forum, opened in 2010 and contrasts with the old building.
In 1899 Wilhelm Hoesch, son of industrialist Leopold Hoesch, gave the city of Düren 300,000 marks to build a museum. Designed by Georg Frentzen, it opened on 8 November 1905 as a mixed museum showing coins, antiquities and art. On 16 November 1944 the air raid destroyed the neighbouring theatre and Marienkirche; the museum survived, badly damaged, and was rebuilt by 1952 without its domes.
The Leopold-Hoesch-Museum shows rotating exhibitions by national and international artists, making it a place where the art on view always changes. Inside, large rooms alternate with smaller galleries, allowing very different works to be shown side by side.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours on Thursday evenings. It is worth checking the current exhibition on the website before your visit, as the program changes regularly.
A stone block by artist Ulrich Rückriem has stood in front of the building since 2011, weighing around 80 tons and cut from Anröchter dolomite. The stone is not polished or shaped beyond the cut itself, which is part of how Rückriem works: he splits stone and reassembles it without hiding the marks of the split.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,128 contributors worldwide.
