The famous Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum of Ethnography is a must-visit destination in Cologne. This museum is a rich resource of cultural and ethnological legacy from the Pacific, West Africa, Oceania, Pre-Columbian America, Indo-China and Indonesia.
Constructed in the year 1901, it showcases the unique and extensive collection of its founder Wilhelm Joest who was a frequent world traveler. Restricted space here has limited the display of collections. A total of 65,000 items are presently displayed here along with 40,000 publications and 100,000 historical photographs.
This ethnology and cultural museum is one of a kind and is a major landmark in North Rhine-Westphalia. It reflects a deep understanding of non-European cultures and a respect for cross cultural understanding.
At the Rautenstrauch Joest Museum of Ethnography, you can find an exhaustive Oceania collection most of them from Bismark Archipelago islands and New Guinea. There are over 13,000 African objects that include traditional masks, sculptures and ritual items used during ceremonies by secret society members in Central and West Africa.
Do not miss the richly decorated masks and daily life ritual objects. You will also find an exquisite, carved boat that belonged to the late King of New Zealand, a Trobriand Islands Yams storage barn and a Hawaiian feather cloak.

The Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff chocolate museum) was opened by Hans Imhoff on 31 October 1993. It is situated in the Cologne quarter Altstadt-Süd on the Rheinauhafen-peninsula. The exhibition shows the whole history of chocolate, from the beginning at the olmecs, maya and aztecs until the contemporary products and their production methods. The museum belongs to the Top Ten of German museums with 5,000 guidances and 600,000 visitors a year. A small tropiarium which can be visited by the people and is a glass cube with 10-metre edge length shows cacao trees of the species Theobroma cacao and Theobroma grandiflorum. Several production machineries were built as miniatures, so that you can have a look at the production process of the small chocolate bars, which are given to the visitors at the entrance of the museum. A special attraction is the three-metre-high chocolate fountain, at which a woman dips wafers in the liquid chocolate and distributes them to the visitors.

The Wallraf-Richartz Museum is one of the three major museums in Cologne, Germany. It houses an art gallery with a collection of fine art from the medieval period to the early twentieth century. Part of its collection was used for the establishment of Museum Ludwig in 1976. The Madonna in the Rose Bower, is among the Gothic paintings in the collection of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. It was created by Stefan Lochner, who lived between 1410 and 1451 in Germany, mainly working in Cologne. Jacob van Utrecht is the painter of the altarpiece for the Great Saint Martin Church in Cologne, dated 1515, which is now in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Among other works from the Early Renaissance in the collection is Adoration of the Child (Bosch) by Hieronymous Bosch. The Wallraf-Richartz collection includes the work of Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot.

If you have been to Cologne, you would certainly have visited the Roman German Museum. This archaeological museum houses precious collections including the Dionysus Mosaic that dates back to 220 AD.
This museum is ideally located close to the Cologne Cathedral and is frequented by thousands of tourists every year. One of the most important features of the museum is its colored, elaborately decorated mosaic. The mosaic covers an area of 70 square meters and is made of millions of ceramic, limestone and glass pieces.
This exquisite mosaic skillfully depicts the Greek God of wine Dionysus surrounded by dancers, Pan, Cupid, satyrs at a delightful table scene. The mosaic is in a good condition preserved by the remains of the building that fell on it during the fourth century Germanic raids.
Do not miss out the reconstructed Tomb of Poblicius, a veteran who served in the Fifth Legion. This tomb stands above the mosaic and is a major attraction here. It is 15 meters high and dates back to 40 AD.
Another attraction you must not miss here is the Practorium. Ruins of this palace were found recently located close to the cathedral. This palace belonged to the Lower Germania Roman governors.
All other exhibits are skillfully arranged based on themes and categories. Rhine valley Roman antiquities can be found on the second floor of the museum.

Museum of Applied Art in the city of Cologne is a decorative arts museum featuring an extensive collection of porcelain, jewelry, architectural exhibits, weaponry and furniture.
It was in 1888 that the idea of constructing an applied art museum in Cologne was first conceptualized. Originally, it featured collections of Matthias Joseph de Noel and Ferdinand Franz Wallraf. With the help of endowments, the museum was further expanded.
Museum of Applied Art was originally built in a Neo-Gothic building in 1900. After it was destroyed in the 1943 bombing, it was relocated in 1989 to its present location constructed by Josef Berhard and Rudolf Schwarz in 1953-54.
Today this popular museum in Cologne is frequented by thousands of tourists. The extensive collection here include tenth century to present day European applied art. Collections are arranged systematically based on the era and includes small sculptures, decorative carpets, furniture, decorative objects, luxury items and dining utensils.
Museum of Applied Art is specifically known for its modern design collections. In one of the wings, you will find a collection of exquisite designs created in 2008 by Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. This stunning collection includes cameras, televisions, telephones, lamps, furniture and household items displayed and presented in a chronological and thematic manner. All pieces are created by popular designers like Frank Lloyd Wright, Dieter Rams, Ray Eames, Joe Colombo, Ettore Sottsass and Philippe Starck.

Museum of the City of Cologne is the place to visit if you want to know what Cologne is all about. Here you will find this city’s history, details of lifestyle and all about the people who lived here right from the Middle-Ages. There are knight armours, small scale town models and Otto engines that tell you vivid stories that depict the very essence of this city.

Also known as the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, it was founded in 1888 and shifted in 1958 to Zeughaus, the city’s armoury. On your trip to this museum, remember to visit the adjacent Prussian, neo-classical building Alte Wache. Here you will find interesting exhibitions on the art and history of Cologne.

Ground floor of the museum features this city’s political history right from the Middle Ages. Economic and cultural history of Cologne is displayed on the upper floor. You can find at least 5000 exhibits on display at the two thousand square meter exhibition space.

Your visit to Cologne is incomplete without a trip to this wonderful museum that provides a deep insight into the city’s cultural, historical and economical background. You will learn about some of the unique characteristic phenomena of Cologne such as the local beer or Kölsch, nepotism or Klüngel, the internal combustion engine discovered here, Eau de Cologne, puppet theatre or Hänneschen and carnival.

If you love collecting photographs as memoirs of your trip, then you must visit the Renish Photographic Archive on your trip to Cologne, Germany. You can find an extensive collection of photographs on the culture, architecture and art of Cologne at the Rheinisches Bildarchiv.
This archive is today a part of the Museen der Stadt Köln. Founded in the year 1925, Renish archive has been meticulously documenting Cologne’s urban development, topography, city museum inventories and public constructions. If you love photography, you will be thrilled to view the collection of historical photographs of Rhineland villages and towns on display here.
In recent years, this archive has collected some amazing photographs of famous photographers in Cologne like August Kreyenkamp, August Sander, Hugo Schmölz, Karl Hugo, Chargesheimer and P.P. Fürst.
One of the most striking features of this archive is that most of the photographs are preserved as black and white negatives using different formats and techniques. These precious negatives are under the care of a specialist who takes care and restores them if necessary.
The Marburger Index located in the Museum of Applied Arts reading room can be used by visitors to search for photographs. You can address any queries to the courteous staff at the archive and reading room.