Wallraff-Richartz Museum/ Museum Ludwig, Cologne

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I loved the Ludwig museum! It has an amazing collection of contemporary art. As soon as you walk in you'll spot the Warhol Marilyns and that will draw you to the lower level which has some of his Brillo and Campbell soup boxes among other well known artists such as Jasper Johns and David Hockney.

The top level is the best and I'm so glad I went back to this museum as I didn't have time to see it on my first visit. This floor houses one of the largest collections of Picasso's work in the world (some very well known) and an amazing Dali.

And be sure to go out back behind it and check out the "urban" David sculpture. However, if the orchestra is rehearsing in it's space below, you'll only be able to stand on the steps below him. Due to a design fault, walking here can cause distracting noise to the musicians below. Oops.

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After buying a ticket and walking into the museum, I went to the lower (basement) level first after having visited the Ladies room which is between the first floor and it. At this time there's an exhibit focused on animals there (portraits of and other representations of) which I personally found very uninteresting. I was wondering if I'd made a mistake visiting here but then I went up to the first floor and pleasantly surprised to learn that I hadn't!

I found a beautiful and vast collection of medieval paintings, some of which I found myself staring at for several minutes just to take in all the detail. The top floor also had an impressive collection of Baroque paintings by artists such as Rubens and Rembrandt. And hey, that's nothing to sniff at!

Cologne's famous art museum stands next to the Dom and the central station so it is an excellent way to spend time if you wait for train connections and therefore you have no excuse not to visit it. This is about modern art, including Andy Warhol, and you always tend to find both disgusting and wonderful pieces in such museums depending on your taste and the artists' attempts at being provocative.

Housed in a modern clean cut building (entrance is off the Am Hof one block east of cathedral), the Ludwig Museum houses some of the masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries. Picasso is also featured here.

The main highlight of this museum is the largest collection of pop art pieces outside the US.

Entrance is 4 Euros. Museum is open from 10am to 6pm on weekdays and 11am to 6pm on weekends.

These new premises, opened 2000, house a wonderful collection that surveys Western art from medieval altar pieces to Impressionist gift wrap via Reubens and Rembrandt. For the rundown on what's inside, just take a look at the names carved into the side of the gallery's exterior!

I was disappointed that they did not offer a colour catalogue of the collection, which is a souvenir we try to buy from each gallery we visit. It's also not easy to navigate or well signposted, but basically you take a lift to the top and work your way down. Allow about an hour; it's an esteemed collection, but not unmanageable. Special exhibitions attracting an extra admission charge are housed in the basement.

Half price entry with tourist card (5.80 euro in April 2004 without). Open Tues 10-8, Wed-Fri 10-6, Sat-Sun 11-6, closed Mon.

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Photos:
1. Wallraf. The Museum.
2. In the museum

This is a major art museum which was founded in the nineteenth century. Officially it has a more complicated name, the "Wallraf-Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud", but when they moved in to their modern new building in 2001 they decided they needed a shorter and snappier name, so for marketing purposes it is now: "Wallraf. The Museum."

In the basement there is a large area for temporary exhibitions. When we were there in the summer of 2010 they were showing landscape paintings by three leading German impressionist painters: Max Liebermann (1847-1935), Lovis Corinth (1858–1925) and Max Slevogt (1868–1932).

On the upper three floors there is a very impressive permanent exhibition of art works from the 13th to 19th (and early 20th) centuries, including what they say is the world's largest collection of medieval art on the first floor (one flight up).

The most popular floor is the second, where art works from the 17th and 18th centuries are on display, including major paintings by Rembrandt, Boucher, Rubens and van Dyck.

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Two private art collections of highest quality and value which were donated to the public are the base of Cologne’s art gallery – one of Germany’s greatest collections of fine arts from the middle ages to contemporary. In the 1980s the new museum building on the Rhine bank, next to the cathedral, was built to unite the two museums under one roof.

Wallraf-Richartz owns an important collection of medieval paintings from Cologne and other landscapes. Other priorities are Dutch and Flemish art of the 16th-18th century and 19th century French and German art. The collection was already opened to the public in 1861.

Museum Ludwig focuses on 20th century and contemporary art. The collection contains all the big names of the classical modern and keeps growing.

If you are interested in modern architecture, the 1980s building is worth a closer look, too.

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It is a very modern building just behind the Cathedral and the Römish Germanish museum and seems to some extent out of place because of this. It houses a huge collection of modern and contemporary art. It was founded in 1976 with a gift of 350 works of modern art by the Ludwigs and became the first museum in Cologne to exhibit contemporary art. It houses huge collection of German, Russian and American contemporary art. This building was designed by the architects Peter Busmann and Godfried Haberer and was opened in 1986.