Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK

Just a few steps from Cologne Cathedral, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK has been dedicated to applied arts and design from the Middle Ages to the present for more than 130 years. Founded in 1888 under the name "Kunstgewerbe-Museum" as the second-oldest museum in Cologne, it today holds one of Germany's most important collections of decorative arts, ranging from precious furniture, porcelain and glass to a world-renowned jewellery collection and international design of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since 1989 the museum has been housed in a building erected in 1957 by Rudolf Schwarz in the heart of Cologne's Altstadt-Nord, where it also received its current, programmatic name. Two permanent collection displays shape a visit: "Kunst + Design im Dialog" places international design in dialogue with fine art, while "Faszination Schmuck. 7000 Jahre Schmuckkunst im MAKK" brings together around 370 exhibits spanning antiquity to the present. The programme is rounded out by rotating special exhibitions that regularly turn the museum into a destination for architecture, design and photography enthusiasts alike.

History of Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK

The history of Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK begins in 1888, when the institution was founded through civic initiative under the name "Kunstgewerbe-Museum," making it the second-oldest museum in the city of Cologne. Its historical core collection is built on the holdings of scholars and collectors Ferdinand Franz Wallraf (1748-1824) - whose name also underlies the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum - and Matthias Joseph de Noël (1782-1849); further high-quality donations from Cologne's citizenry soon followed and continue to shape the museum's character today. The collection was initially housed in the deaf-mute school "An der Rechtschule," before the museum moved in 1900 into its own neo-Gothic building on Hansaring, designed by architect Brantzky. In the early 20th century the collection was reorganised several times: the East Asian Museum became an independent institution in 1913, and between 1927 and 1932 further holdings were transferred to the Stadtmuseum, the Schnütgen Museum and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. During the Second World War the Hansaring building was destroyed, though the collections were almost entirely saved. The museum then found interim homes first in the Eigelsteintorburg and, from 1961 to 1986, in the Romanesque Overstolzenhaus on Rheingasse. Since 1989 the museum has occupied its central city-centre building, erected in 1957 by Rudolf Schwarz; the move came with a renaming to "Museum für Angewandte Kunst," and after nearly fifty years without one, a permanent collection exhibition could be shown again. In 2008 the permanent exhibition "Kunst + Design im Dialog. Designabteilung mit Sammlung Winkler" was added, reinstalled under the same concept in 2020, and at the end of 2024 a further major collection display opened under the title "Faszination Schmuck. 7000 Jahre Schmuckkunst im MAKK."

Highlights of Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK

At the heart of a visit to Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK are two permanent exhibitions. "Kunst + Design im Dialog. Designabteilung mit Sammlung Winkler" follows a still-unique curatorial concept that places international 20th- and 21st-century design - from furniture and veneered-wood lampshades to Space Age and Memphis-style objects - in direct dialogue with works of fine art. The second major display, "Faszination Schmuck. 7000 Jahre Schmuckkunst im MAKK," draws on the museum's excellent jewellery holdings to present around 370 exhibits spanning antiquity to the present, tracing techniques, materials and fashions in jewellery-making across millennia. These permanent displays are complemented by rotating special exhibitions, often connected to architecture and photography, including the recent shows "O.M. Ungers – Architektur als Idee" on the influential German architect and "Hans Georg Esch – Der architektonische Blick," a photographic exploration of modern architecture worldwide. For families and film enthusiasts, the museum also runs its own cineMAKK screenings and a creative lab where visitors can get hands-on themselves. Those wishing to dig deeper into the collection's history will also find references to the museum's own provenance research as well as its digital Online Collection, through which part of the holdings can be explored from home.

Opening Hours, Tickets & How to Get to Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK

According to the official museum website, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK is regularly open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. The museum is closed on Mondays, except for certain public holidays such as Easter Monday or Whit Monday, when it opens as usual; it is closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and during Carnival. On the so-called "Langer Donnerstag" or KölnTag - the first Thursday of the month, holidays excepted - the museum stays open until 10 pm, and all Cologne residents receive free admission on presentation of an ID card, while visitors from elsewhere receive reduced admission to all exhibitions from 5 pm onward. Regular admission to the permanent collection displays "Kunst + Design im Dialog" and "Faszination Schmuck" costs 6 euros, or 3.50 euros at the reduced rate; the rotating special exhibitions cost 6 euros, or 3 euros reduced. The museum is located at An der Rechtschule 7, 50667 Köln, in the heart of Altstadt-Nord just a few minutes' walk from the cathedral. The nearest Cologne light-rail stop is Dom/Hauptbahnhof, from which the museum can be reached on foot in a short time. For enquiries, the secretariat can be reached at +49 (0)221.221 238 60 and the ticket desk at +49 (0)221.221 267 14, as well as by email at [email protected]; current holiday opening hours and special exhibition dates should always be checked online before a visit.

Attractions Near Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK

The location of Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln - MAKK close to the main train station and the cathedral makes it easy to combine a visit with other highlights of Altstadt-Nord. Within a few minutes' walk, visitors can reach Cologne Cathedral and its treasury, as well as Kolumba, the art museum of the Archdiocese, built above the ruins of the church of St. Kolumba. Also within walking distance are the Römisch-Germanisches Museum, with its testimonies to the city's ancient history, and Museum Ludwig and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum on the Rhine, the latter closely linked to MAKK's own history through their shared founding donor Ferdinand Franz Wallraf. Near the Appellhofplatz stop stands the NS-Dokumentationszentrum, housed in the former EL-DE-Haus. Visitors wanting to explore the city's shopping streets will find the Hohe Straße and Schildergasse pedestrian zones just minutes away, while the Rhine promenade with views of the Hohenzollern Bridge offers a relaxed way to round off a day of museum-going in Cologne.