Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum houses the most extensive collection of medieval Cologne paintings, apart from the Old Pinakothek in Munich, as well as precious works from the time around 1500. Flemish and Dutch masters of the 16th to the 18th century, Rembrandt and Rubens included, are also represented as is a collection of German and French paintings from the beginnings of the modern era until 1900.

The foundations for the museum were laid by Main Attractions 28 the collector Ferdinand Franz Wallraf. The first museum building was constructed in the mid-19th century by the Cologne merchant Johann Heinrich Richartz.

References:

Cologne Tourism

User Reviews

Staci Monroe (13 months ago)
Wonderful selection, I only had 1 1/2 hours to look around, would like to return when I have more time to read everything. Recommend this place if you enjoy art and history.

Kristina Maskarin (14 months ago)
Once upon a time in America was great show, permanent collection also very interesting with some rare pearls. Highly recommended

D MacLean (14 months ago)
We saw the exhibit on American art. Really good with lots of famous paintings. Really had no time to see the rest of the museum. Would like to go back again and see the works by Rembrandt, Monet, etc. One could spend many hours there to take it all in. A bit expensive.

Michał Malanowski (14 months ago)
Beautifull place. The art collection is fantastic. Mandatory visit for anyone loving art, while in Cologne.

Mick Pelling (2 years ago)
Excellent art gallery, a great collection of paintings by well known European artists, a floor dedicated to religious art from the Cologne area, and for another couple of months, an exhibition of art by American artists. Many of the exhibits have side notes about the artist, and the painting, and available is an audio guide. Cost of admission is 15 euros, money well spent.

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Kalozha Church

The Kalozha church of Saints Boris and Gleb is the oldest extant structure in Hrodna. It is the only surviving monument of ancient Black Ruthenian architecture, distinguished from other Orthodox churches by prolific use of polychrome faceted stones of blue, green or red tint which could be arranged to form crosses or other figures on the wall.

The church is a cross-domed building supported by six circular pillars. The outside is articulated with projecting pilasters, which have rounded corners, as does the building itself. The ante-nave contains the choir loft, accessed by a narrow gradatory in the western wall. Two other stairs were discovered in the walls of the side apses; their purpose is not clear. The floor is lined with ceramic tiles forming decorative patterns. The interior was lined with innumerable built-in pitchers, which usually serve in Eastern Orthodox churches as resonators but in this case were scored to produce decorative effects. For this reason, the central nave has never been painted.

The church was built before 1183 and survived intact, depicted in the 1840s by Michał Kulesza, until 1853, when the south wall collapsed, due to its perilous location on the high bank of the Neman. During restoration works, some fragments of 12th-century frescoes were discovered in the apses. Remains of four other churches in the same style, decorated with pitchers and coloured stones instead of frescoes, were discovered in Hrodna and Vaŭkavysk. They all date back to the turn of the 13th century, as do remains of the first stone palace in the Old Hrodna Castle.

In 2004, the church was included in the Tentative List of UNESCO"s World Heritage Sites.

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