Museum of East Asian Art

The Museum of East Asian Art, which overlooks the Aachener Weiher pond in Cologne, was the first special museum of its kind in Germany when it was opened in 1913. Its collection leads visitors into the fascinating distant world of Chinese, Japanese and Korean art. The museum’s founders, Adolf Fischer (1857-1914), and his wife, Frieda Bartdorff (1874-1945), amassed a significant collection of Japanese art, which forms the basis of the museum's holdings. These include outstanding works of Buddhist painting and wooden sculpture, Japanese standing screen painting, colour woodcuts and lacquer art. Other world-renowned treasures of the Museum of East Asian Art include Chinese cultic bronzes, first-class examples of Buddhist sculpture, bronze art, ceramics from China, Korea and Japan, and Korean celadon pottery from the Koryô dynasty.

But it's not only the works of art inside the museum that are significant; the museum building itself deserves a closer look as well, as it's one of the most beautiful and important historic buildings from the classical modernist period in Cologne. The flat-roofed one-storey building, which offers 1,390 square metres of exhibition space, was designed by the renowned Japanese architect Kunio Maekawa (1905-1986), a pupil of Le Corbusier. The museum includes a cafeteria that is also accessible outside the museum's opening hours. Here you can sit and relax and enjoy the view of the Aachener Weiher. Even more interesting is the view of the garden in the museum's inner courtyard, which was designed in the style of traditional Japanese meditation gardens according to plans drawn up by the Japanese sculptor Masayuki Nagare (born in 1923). The combination of Japanese architecture and Japanese garden art creates a harmonious overall impression of East Asia.

The Museum of East Asian Art changes its presentation of selected objects from its permanent collection several times a year. In addition, it stages special exhibitions of works from its own holdings.