Museums & Galleries in Cologne

Agfa Foto-Historama

One of the world's most significant photo-historical collections — nearly 20,000 cameras and over 12,000 photographs, now housed at Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

Alte Wache am Zeughaus

5.0(1)· Google

A Prussian guardhouse from 1840/41 in Neoclassical Florentine style, rebuilt after wartime destruction and now used as a temporary exhibition space of the Cologne City Museum.

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Chocolate Museum Cologne

since 1993

4.4(49,342)· Google

Built on a peninsula in the Rheinauhafen harbour, this museum tells the story of chocolate — complete with a glass-fronted factory and a three-metre chocolate fountain.

Cologne Cathedral Treasury

4.6(412)· Google

Set in medieval vaults beneath the north side of Cologne Cathedral, the treasury displays Christian art from the 4th to the 20th century.

Cologne City Museum

since 1888

4.3(842)· Google

Cologne's urban history museum, open for over 130 years — since 2024 it organises its collection around emotions rather than chronology; currently in temporary premises.

Cologne Mikveh

4.4(8)· Google

Medieval Jewish ritual bath beneath the Rathausplatz: the staircase descends inside the nearly 16-metre-deep shaft all the way to the water level.

Cologne Radio Museum

since 1999

4.3(7)· Google

A volunteer-run specialist museum in Cologne-Dellbrück that traces the history of broadcasting from the earliest crystal sets to modern transistor radios, with a collection of around 4,000 exhibits.

DOMiD – Documentation Centre and Museum on Migration in Germany

4.6(19)· Google

Civil-society archive of German migration history since 1945, founded in 1990 by migrants and home to over 150,000 objects, documents, and photographs.

EL-DE House

since 1934

Former Gestapo headquarters with a preserved cell block and around 1,800 prisoner wall inscriptions — now Cologne's Nazi documentation center.

Fragrance Museum in the Farina House

since 1709

4.4(3,282)· Google

Birthplace of Eau de Cologne: the Farina House of 1709, the oldest perfume factory in the world still in operation.

Freundeskreis Eisenbahn Köln

since 1955

3.8(4)· Google

A volunteer-run railway association in Cologne-Nippes that has kept original Rheingold carriages in working order since 1970 and maintains a small museum on the history of the Rheingold train.

GeoMuseum

4.5(54)· Google

Cologne's only natural history museum: meteorites, minerals, gemstones and fossils at the University of Cologne.

German Dance Archive & Dance Museum

since 1985

4.1(18)· Google

Research and documentation centre for dance in the Mediapark – combining an archive, library, video collection and museum tracing the history of stage dance.

German Sport & Olympic Museum

since 1999

4.3(1,993)· Google

Museum in Cologne's Rheinauhafen dedicated to the history of sport from antiquity to the present — with rooms on the Olympics, football, boxing, and more.

Johann Maria Farina opposite Jülichs-Platz

since 1709

5.0(1)· Google

By its own account the world's oldest still-operating eau de cologne and perfume factory – founded in 1709, family-owned to this day.

Käthe Kollwitz Museum

since 1985

4.6(352)· Google

Home to the world's largest Käthe Kollwitz collection, this Cologne museum brings together her drawings, prints, and all 15 known bronze sculptures.

Kölner Festungsmuseum

4.5(75)· Google

Volunteer-run museum in Prussian fortification VIII b — home to Germany's last surviving drawbridge, moat, and sculpture park in Marienburg.

Kölner Karnevalsmuseum

4.4(205)· Google

Germany's largest carnival museum in Cologne-Ehrenfeld – tracing carnival history from antiquity to the present (currently closed).

Kölner Weinmuseum

since 2010

4.4(53)· Google

Wine and oenology museum in Cologne with a walkable rooftop vineyard — over 40 grape varieties across 720 vines.

Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne Art Association)

4.4(67)· Google

Founded in 1839, the Kölnischer Kunstverein is one of the oldest and most respected institutions for contemporary art in Germany. Today it resides in the striking building "Die Brücke" on Hahnenstraße, presenting current international art in Cologne.

Kolumba

since 1853

4.5(1,498)· Google

Peter Zumthor's landmark brick building for the Archdiocese of Cologne's art museum, built over the ruins of the war-destroyed church of St. Columba.

Michael Schumacher Private Collection

since 2018

4.8(2,941)· Google

A permanent exhibition at MOTORWORLD Cologne showcasing the private collection of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher – from his first karts to the original title-winning cars.

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Museum Ludwig

since 1976

4.5(9,493)· Google

20th- and 21st-century art on Cologne's Cathedral Plateau — home to Europe's largest Pop Art collection and the world's third-largest Picasso collection.

Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK)

since 1888

4.3(1,431)· Google

Cologne museum of applied arts and design in the Schwarz-Bernard building — once dismissed as sterile, later celebrated as a 'third way' in postwar architecture.

Museum Schnütgen

since 1910

4.6(394)· Google

One of Europe's richest medieval collections, housed in the Romanesque basilica of St. Cecilia in Cologne's historic city centre.

NS-Dokumentationszentrum (EL-DE-Haus)

since 1979

4.5(3,897)· Google

Memorial and museum in Cologne's former Gestapo headquarters — with preserved prison cells and prisoners' wall inscriptions surviving in the basement.

Planetarium Köln

4.5(78)· Google

Cologne's first planetarium — a 1965 Zeiss projector in the basement of a Nippes secondary school, paired with an observatory built by students.

Poller Heimatmuseum

since 2015

A private local history and information centre for Köln-Poll, featuring a picture exhibition at the Sportspark Cologne and information boards along the Rhine.

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum

since 1901

4.5(1,875)· Google

Cologne's ethnological museum with over 65,000 objects from around the world, exploring human cultures under the theme "The Human Being in Their Worlds."

Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum

4.3(73)· Google

One of Germany's largest collections of industrial railway locomotives, housed in a former engine shed in Nippes — currently closed to visitors.

Romano-Germanic Museum (RGM)

since 1946

Cologne's archaeological museum — world's largest collection of Roman glass and the Dionysus Mosaic near the cathedral (currently at the Belgian House).

St. Cäcilien – Museum Schnütgen

since 801

4.5(29)· Google

One of Cologne's twelve great Romanesque churches — home to the Museum Schnütgen for medieval art since 1956.

St. Kolumba

since 1150

4.8(65)· Google

'Madonna in the Ruins' — a medieval chapel enclosed within the ruins of a Gothic parish church, now embraced by the Kolumba art museum.

St. Peter – Kunst-Station

since 1515

4.7(86)· Google

Cologne's latest surviving Gothic church — and since 1987 a venue for contemporary art and new music, run by Jesuits.

Stellwerk Köln-Dünnwald

4.6(16)· Google

Railway signalling museum in Dünnwald preserving a rare DrS2 interlocking, one of Germany's first electronic signal boxes, and a working operations simulator.

Thielenbruch Tram Museum

since 1997

4.5(527)· Google

Historic Cologne trams in a 1906 depot hall — including the fully operational 'Finchen', which still runs to Frechen today.

Toyota Collection

since 2017

4.8(590)· Google

Vehicle collection run by Toyota Germany in a converted sports hall on its Cologne company grounds, open to visitors on the first Saturday of every month with free admission.

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud

4.6(3,469)· Google

Cologne's oldest museum — home to the world's most extensive collection of medieval painting and Germany's largest Impressionist collection.

Permanently closed Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte

Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte

since 1907

City museum founded in 1907 in the Bayenturm, covering regional prehistory – destroyed in 1943, its remnants became the founding stock of the Romano-Germanic Museum.

Permanently closed Odysseum

Odysseum

4.1(8,981)· Google

Interactive science adventure museum in Cologne-Kalk — opened in 2009, it ran for 16 years across 5,500 m² before closing in 2025.

Museums & Galleries