Wallraf - Richartz Museum

Its not only a wonderful museum, but a great place to learn about different art techniques.

Good collection of art ranging from Renaissance to Baroque to Classical to Impressionism… English explanations were also available beside some of the paintings. We covered the 3 floors in about 2 hours.

Wonderfull paintings and pleasant setting !

Easily spent a full day with plenty of English transcriptions. Worth getting a museum pass at the reception if you're planning to cover more than one museum.

#VALUE!

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. Visited today again,first time since covid, 13th August 22, admission only 5 euros, but only 2 floors open for viewing. Floor 1 is mainly religious art, and floor 2 is 17th and 18th Century, Ruben's, Van Dyke, Rembrandt etc Still very much worth a visit

Some great works of art..I was thankful for the air conditioning

It gave me a fascinating experience. The museum contains painting arts from middle age, to Baroque and to finish with 19th century. It certainly doesn’t have those famous paintings, but they reveal the changes of painting pattern/skills over centuries in a really good and attractive way. I believe that the gallery for Baroque period is the most impressive one. They provide some small “play” for you to see the wonderful interaction between light/shade and the painting of real objects, which is the main feature of Baroque arts. I arrived around noon, and no one was there, so I was lucky to enjoy the whole museum peacefully. When I came out, sometime around 2pm, the lobby was crowded with tourists.

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Fantastic museum, not overcrowded, numerous precious works.

I really enjoyed this museum! It been a long time since I was that happy to visit museum and to buy smth afterwards regarding exhibition. Impressionistic collection was magnificent;)

This museum has the best medieval paintings that I've seen.

Nice place, quiet ambience ...

Highly recommend this museum for the clear and informative description and well laid out collection. Like a mini art history tour. No audio guide required.

The museum is an oasis of beautiful pieces, and very well displayed.

Great art museum. Spend about 2 hours (or more).

Great art. Nicely displayed. Middle age floor is a must visit!

Amazing collection of art, and worth a visit to see 19th century paintings

I very much like the presentation. Very modern, a very nice atmosphere, good lighting. I can only recommend to plan spending some time there.

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#VALUE!

One of the best museum to visit in Cologne. It presents a variety of classic to neo-impressionistic artworks. In addition, the special exhibitions are always worth a visit.

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This is one of the best art museums I have ever visit. Here you can find one of the greatest Impresionist paintings collection in the world.

A great art museum! One can literally spend hours inside reading the detailed descriptions accompanying the astonishing work from the middle ages.

Amazing collection and well presented. The museum houses some big names like Stefan Lochner, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet, etc. Although the presentation itself might be rather traditional, the choice of texts make it very accessible for both a broad audience and academics alike. Don't forget to enjoy the details in the Madonna by Lochner. I fall in love again every time.

Rich collection, awesome paintings. Temporary exhibition was great! It's better to visit in the morning. Depending on the temporary exhibition it can be crowded during the day time.

Wonderful museum - excellent paintings. On the weekends prepare to wait in the line. The optimal time of visit is the morning. Staff sometimes a bit rude comparing to other museums.

I will recommend to visit this museum if you live in Köln or will be here for quite some time. If you come with a tight schedule I will only recommend if you are really into art. The working personal is really nice and helpful. In my personal opinion the exposition of the 19th century was really interesting.

Great museum with plenty of beautiful art. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Cologne.

Beautiful museum that, for a low cost, you can spend as much or as little time as you'd like admiring phenomenal pictures of art from several different centuries. There is something awe-inspiring seeing the detail and reading about the dedication each artist had creating their pieces

Once upon a time in America was great show, permanent collection also very interesting with some rare pearls. Highly recommended

One of the best museums I have ever been. There aren’t many pieces but every room has a great explanation of its content, very clear. It’s the first time I read all of them. Same thing for the most important pieces. You really don’t need a guide, you just need to read. Also, it was possible to get really close to the paintings, and there weren’t too many people. Just great!! Every other museum director should learn from this.

Lots painting but the bridge by Monet is on loan to sans,francisco art gallery.

This is biggest surprise for me during my trip to Cologne. Before I come here, I just know there are few Impressionism paintings and one self-portrait of Rembrandt in this museum. However, when I am really inside this museum, I find there are more good paintings than I expected. Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, etc. So many famous artists. Even though some paintings are not the best ones of corresponding artist, considering they are personal collections, this museum is already quite amazing.

An excellent collection of Classic paintings, as well as Impressionism. You’ll see hundreds of incredible paintings here that you won’t be able to access anywhere else. Appreciate the masterpieces and enjoy.

Amazing selections of paintings. Have to go back because I did not have enough time to see them all! People were friendly. Also the restaurant was really good, I took the quiche + wine deal and it was very tasty and affordable.

Spectacular small but wonderful collection. Don't miss the Munch or the Rodin

I don’t usually like going to museums but the exhibition space is quite cozy. Their Renaissance exhibition is well curated.

Worth visiting if you’re in Cologne and enjoy German art. The Wallraf Richartz also has selected works of art that relate directly to Cologne, which is nice for understanding the city you are visiting or potentially living in. The three floors are organized by timeline and some of the art is truly breathtaking. I found myself standing in awe a few times. The windows of the museum also have some great views on Cologne. Don’t forget to take a look at the memorial next door.

A tremendous place to learn about the history, development and important artists of painting.

A world-class museum that deserves to be much better known. Strengths are Renaissance German altarpieces and 19th century paintings, but there are excellent holdings from other periods as well. The Rubens painting of St. Francis receiving the stigmata is one of my favorites. The room of German Renaissance altarpieces (there are a dozen) is sublime and worth a journey all by itself. Most highly recommended.

A great collection of art works ranging from the 1500s all the way to 1900s. There is a special exhibition on the -1 floor which is included in your ticket. I highly recommend anyone visiting Cologne to stop by. I have included some pictures I took while visiting. Enjoy!

The collection is beautiful. I also loved the architecture of the building, it gives a signature feel to the museum.

It’s the best museum In Cologne! The collection has a little bit of everything from 14-20th century. What’s special about this place is that they give elaborate explanation on half of the exhibited pieces in English! Including techniques used, background knowledge of the author and the artwork itself. Besides, they provide a detailed art history introduction on the works exhibited in every room, it’s almost like reading a textbook! I spent 5 hours there and barely read through everything. It’s a really enlightening and interesting museum.

An impressive collection of medieval altarpieces, art and some paintings by Rubens and Rembrandt make this museum well worth a visit. The medieval altarpieces are exhibited in a nice way, allowing the viewer to also look at the back of these nice works. The building itself is also worth checking out, especially if you're into modern architecture.

Covers art from the medieval period through the end of impressionism (and the beginning glimmers of cubism). Each room has a great overall description of the period (in English and German) covering what that era of art was trying to do that was different from or similar to the prior period. A lot of individual pieces also had more detailed descriptions, but there were many more pieces you could view just to get the gist of the period without having to read another in depth article. I thought it was a good mix of in depth information and just name/title/year so I didn't feel like everything had to be given 10 minutes of contemplation (I wouldn't have lasted that long!). Took about 2.5 hours to cover all three floors with enough detail that I felt more enlightened by the end but not exhausted and overwhelmed. It even has some art that is specifically labeled with kids in mind, but sadly the information is in German, so only helpful if your kids read German. Wasn't super excited to visit initially, but after visiting, would highly recommend this museum. By the way, if you decide to visit this museum and the Ludwig Museum (modern art), you might consider throwing in one or two others and getting the Cologne Museum Pass which provides a good discount of you but the family pass (covers up to 2 adults and 2 kids under 18).

Excellent museum, well organized. Captions on the art are in English and German, rather extensive and lots to read and explore. Great museum shop and cafe too.

Great presentation, showing how art evolved over time. While I like paintings, I don't know much about art but that doesn't matter: Every single room provides a general explanation of what is shown including the social and cultural backgrounds involved. Many paintings provide detailed explanation on their plaque and also provide an insight on the techniques used. All texts are bilingual (German/English). If you want to read all texts and study most paintings carefully (i.e. explore the details), plan about 4 hours for the 3 upper floors (basement was closed) plus a recreational break as your attention will unfortunately fade after a while. If you rush through the exhibition, you may finish each floor in about 30-45 minutes (as did other visitors) but you will miss a lot.