Wallraf–Richartz Museum, Art museum in Altstadt-Nord, Cologne, Germany
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum presents European painting from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century in a multi-story building in the old town of Cologne. The collection holds works by Flemish, Dutch, German, French and Italian painters, arranged chronologically through the rooms.
Ferdinand Franz Wallraf transferred his art collection to the city of Cologne in 1824, after gathering it for decades. Johann Heinrich Richartz financed the first museum building in 1861, which laid the foundation for the current institution.
The name honors two historical figures: a collector and a benefactor who made the museum possible. Visitors walk through halls with paintings from different centuries, arranged in the order they were made.
The museum has been closed since early August 2026 for a full refurbishment combined with an extension building, and will stay closed for several years. The building stands near the Cologne City Hall in the Altstadt-Nord district, on the site of the ancient Roman temple to Mars. Visitors should check the reopening before planning a trip.
The 2001 building by Oswald Mathias Ungers stands on the site of the ancient Roman temple to Mars in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. In 2008 restorers found that On the Banks of the Seine by Port Villez, bought in 1954 as a Monet, was a forgery: X-ray and infrared testing showed a colourless substance applied to age the canvas. The museum kept the forgery and still holds five authentic Monets.
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