Museums
25 places in Cologne
Agfa Foto-Historama
An important photo-history collection with around 20,000 cameras – today part of the Photographic Collection of Museum Ludwig.
Chocolate Museum Cologne
A cultural-history museum on the Rheinauhafen peninsula with a glass chocolate factory and a walk-in tropical house – one of Cologne's most visited museums.
Cologne Carnival Museum
Germany's largest carnival museum, in Ehrenfeld – currently closed for renovation. Check the reopening status before visiting.
Cologne Fortress Museum
A volunteer-run museum in a Prussian fort in Marienburg – with a sculpture park and Germany's last surviving folding bridge.
Cologne Wine Museum
A small, family-run wine museum in Neustadt-Nord – with a rooftop vineyard and more than 40 grape varieties to taste.
Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum
Germany's national sports museum on the Rheinauhafen – from antiquity to the Olympics, with hands-on stations and a sports court on the roof.
DOMiD – Documentation Centre and Museum on Migration in Germany
A documentation centre and archive on migration history in Cologne-Ehrenfeld – research by appointment; a dedicated migration museum is planned.
Fragrance Museum in the Farina House
In the birthplace of Eau de Cologne – the Fragrance Museum tells the story of the famous Cologne scent in original 18th-century rooms.
GeoMuseum
The natural-history museum of the University of Cologne with minerals, gemstones, meteorites and fossils – Cologne's only natural-history museum.
German Dance Archive & Dance Museum
An archive, research centre and dance museum in the MediaPark – devoted to the history and present of stage dance.
Käthe Kollwitz Museum
The world's largest collection of Käthe Kollwitz on Neumarkt – reopened in autumn 2025 after a major renovation.
Kölnisches Stadtmuseum
Cologne's city-history museum with around 350,000 objects spanning 1,200 years – at a temporary home in the former Franz Sauer department store since 2024.
Kolumba
The Archdiocese's art museum in an award-winning building by Peter Zumthor – built over the ruins of St. Kolumba church, a place of stillness and art.
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
A former municipal museum in the Bayenturm (founded 1907), destroyed during the war in 1943 – no longer in existence.
Museum Ludwig
20th- and 21st-century art on the Domplatte – home to Europe's largest Pop Art and the world's third-largest Picasso collection.
Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK)
A museum of design and applied arts in the city centre – from medieval craftsmanship to modern furniture and design.
NS Documentation Centre (EL-DE House)
A memorial and museum on the Nazi era in the former Gestapo prison EL-DE House – one of Cologne's most important places of remembrance.
Odysseum
A former adventure and science museum in Cologne-Kalk – closed in 2025 after 16 years. No successor is currently operating.
Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum
Cologne's ethnology museum ‘Cultures of the World', with over 65,000 objects from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas at the Kulturquartier on Neumarkt.
Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum
A railway museum in the historic Nippes locomotive depot – with around 70 industrial locomotives, open once a month.
Romano-Germanic Museum (RGM)
Cologne's archaeological museum with the famous Dionysus mosaic and 2,000 years of finds – currently housed at the Belgisches Haus during renovation.
Schnütgen Museum
A museum of medieval Christian art in the Romanesque church of St. Cecilia – world-class sculpture, stained glass and goldsmiths' work.
Stellwerk Köln-Dünnwald
A small museum of railway signalling in a former signal box in Dünnwald – with working interlocking systems and an operations simulation.
Straßenbahn-Museum Thielenbruch
A tram museum in a 1906 depot hall – around two dozen Cologne trams from the horse-drawn era to the modern light-rail car.
