Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The State Art Gallery in Karlsruhe is housed within three historic buildings arranged around the Botanical Gardens. The collection holds around 800 paintings and sculptures spanning from the Renaissance through modern periods.
Built by court architect Heinrich Hübsch between 1836 and 1846 as the Grand Ducal Picture Gallery, the building opened in 1846 and is among Germany's oldest museum buildings. It was created for the art collection of the Baden princely house, whose core was the Mahlerey-Cabinet of Margravine Karoline Luise (1723–1783). Later extensions involved architects Josef Durm and Heinrich Amersbach, and Heinz Mohl added the newest wing in 1990 on the site of the old academy building destroyed in the war.
The gallery houses masterworks by German, French, and Dutch artists collected over centuries. Visitors encounter paintings by figures like Dürer and Rembrandt displayed within the historic rooms.
Access spans across all three buildings, which are easy to reach on foot and connected to the Botanical Gardens. It makes sense to plan several hours to explore the different collections without rushing.
The two marble statues on the balcony, carved by Franz Xaver Reich (1815–1881), personify the gallery's two branches: Painting on the left, Sculpture on the right. Reich's wider sculptural programme also cites Michelangelo, Raphael, Dürer, Holbein the Younger and Peter Vischer the Elder.
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