Photo: museums and exhibitions, Shnutgen Museum , North Rhine-Westphalia

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Shnutgen Museum with a collection of sacred art

Museums and Exhibitions

The Schnütgen Museum in Cologne can be compared with the Cloisters Museum of Christian Medieval Art in New York and with the National Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris. In total, there are stored about 13 thousand exhibits. Among them visitors can see different glass paintings, gothic sculptures made out of stone, wood or ivory and artistic items made out of precious metals. A member of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Alexander Shnyutgen, collected all of the exhibits from destroyed churches. In 1906 he gave this collection to the city. On October 26th, 1910 it was presented to the public for the first time in a specially constructed building in Romanesque Revival style.

During the Second World War, the exhibits were evacuated to various German monasteries. And in 1956 a place for them was found in the church of St. Cecilia. This Romanesque basilica is known since IX century. Allied bombardment forces have almost destroyed it, but the building was restored to its original form.

One of the most famous exhibits is the crucifixion of St. George. Among the many Madonnas, Aachen Madonna (1230), that is carved from oak, and Madonna on a wide throne (around 1270) can be distinguished.

In 2010, a new exhibition space was opened next to basilica. Thanks to this an opportunity to present the exhibits, that for a long time have been kept in vaults, appeard.

Shnutgen Museum with a collection of sacred art

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