The KOLUMBA is an art museum in Cologne. It is located on the site of the ancient church of Santa Kolumba, an ancient Romanesque-Gothic church almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. The museum was born as a modernization of the ancient diocesan museum of Cologne: the latter was in fact destroyed during the war. However, most of the collection had previously been evacuated. The museum was therefore reopened in 1954, but in inadequate and insufficient spaces, so in the nineties it was decided to give it a new location. The site chosen was that of the ancient church of Santa Kolumba. Completed in 2007, the resulting architecture is the result of a skilful design by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. T he new building skillfully combines the new volumes with the remains of medieval constructions, unifying past and present, ancient and contemporary.

Inside, the Kolumba's sixteen exhibition rooms, which occupy a total area of 1,750 square meters, are largely conceived as intimate, almost domestic spaces. Rooms that give an overall feeling of quiet, as if they were suspended in time: it is no coincidence that the Kolumba, as well as being an art museum, was conceived as a hymn to peace and life (columba is the Latin term for dove, a Christian symbol of peace).

The Kolumba museum collection consists of paintings, sculptures, drawings, printed works, fabrics, clothes, precious objects, jewels and manuscripts, from antiquity to the present day, with a particular focus on medieval Germanic art. The collection of modern and contemporary art works includes works by Joseph Beuys, Leiko Ikemura, Rebecca Horn, Attila Kovács, Wolfgang Laib, Thomas Lehnerer, Joseph Marioni, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra, Chris Newman, Richard Tuttle, among many others , Jannis Kounellis and Darío Villalba. The museum exhibits much of its heritage through long-lasting temporary exhibitions, in which ancient and modern pieces are displayed side by side, according to always different themes and readings.