Kolumba is the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, the building is simultaneously austere and sensual, harmoniously merging the Gothic ruins of St Kolumba, Gottfried Böhm’s chapel “Madonna in the Ruins” (1950), and a unique archaeological excavation site (1973-76). Kolumba allows visitors to experience two millennia of western culture in a single building. Comprising art from late antiquity to the very present, the whole ensemble is imbued with a reverberating sense of history, strikingly intensified through its distinctive architecture. Rotating presentations combine objects and artworks as diverse as medieval reliquaries and Jannis Kounellis’s “Tragedia Civile” (1975). Current displays focus on the work of Roni Horn, on ancient objects from and about Jerusalem, and a socially engaged project by Eric Baudelaire, inspired by the work of Daniel Buren, which expands the museum beyond its walls, engaging with children in Cologne schools.
Images: [1 to 3] Rasmus Hjortshøj – Coast [4 to 10] via kolumba.de
