Cologne - Schnütgen Museum

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior".

A city with such a history has -of course- many museums. One is the "Museum Schnütgen", devoted to medieval art. In 1906, the collection of Alexander Schnütgen, a theologian and passionate art collector, was donated to the city.

Since 1956, the museum has occupied the Romanesque church of St. Cäcilien (1130-1160), that was once part of a monastery founded in 881. An annex was added in the 1950s, but even now only about 10% of all artefacts can be displayed as of course the collection has expanded since Schnütgen´s donation.

www.museum-schnuetgen.de/Info

A lintel with the Triumph of Christ over Beasts. Carved in Cologne 7th/11th century.