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 (21 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 (22 months ago)
Once upon a time in America was great show, permanent collection also very interesting with some rare pearls. Highly recommended

D MacLean (22 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 (22 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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The famous Italian Medici family have given two queens to France: Catherine, the spouse of Henry II, and Marie, widow of Henry IV, who built the current Luxembourg palace. Maria di Medici had never been happy at the Louvre, still semi-medieval, where the fickle king, did not hesitate to receive his mistresses. The death of Henry IV, assassinated in 1610, left the way open for Marie's project. When she became regent, she was able to give special attention to the construction of an imposing modern residence that would be reminiscent of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens in Florence, where she grew up. The development of the 25-hectare park, which was to serve as a jewel-case for the palace, began immediately.

The architect, Salomon de Brosse, began the work in 1615. Only 16 years later was the palace was completed. Palace of Luxembourg affords a transition between the Renaissance and the Classical period.

In 1750, the Director of the King's Buildings installed in the wing the first public art-gallery in France, in which French and foreign canvases of the royal collections are shown. The Count of Provence and future Louis XVIII, who was living in Petit Luxembourg, had this gallery closed in 1780: leaving to emigrate, he fled from the palace in June 1791.

During the French Revolution the palace was first abandoned and then moved as a national prison. After that it was the seat of the French Directory, and in 1799, the home of the Sénat conservateur and the first residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul of the French Republic. The old apartments of Maria di Medici were altered. The floor, which the 80 senators only occupied in 1804, was built in the middle of the present Conference Hall.

Beginning in 1835 the architect Alphonse de Gisors added a new garden wing parallel to the old corps de logis, replicating the look of the original 17th-century facade so precisely that it is difficult to distinguish at first glance the old from the new. The new senate chamber was located in what would have been the courtyard area in-between.

The new wing included a library (bibliothèque) with a cycle of paintings (1845–1847) by Eugène Delacroix. In the 1850s, at the request of Emperor Napoleon III, Gisors created the highly decorated Salle des Conférences, which influenced the nature of subsequent official interiors of the Second Empire, including those of the Palais Garnier.

During the German occupation of Paris (1940–1944), Hermann Göring took over the palace as the headquarters of the Luftwaffe in France, taking for himself a sumptuous suite of rooms to accommodate his visits to the French capital. Since 1958 the Luxembourg palace has been the seat of the French Senate of the Fifth Republic.

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