Art for art’s sake - aachen-emotion.com

Aachen's museums Art for art’s sake

Her hair in rollers, cigarette gracing the corner of her mouth and a few pounds of flab to spare – Duane Hanson’s “Supermarket Lady” may be no beauty, but she’s a star in the world of pop art.

Her home is Aachen’s Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst (Ludwig International Art Forum) whose presentations are a kaleidoscope cataloguing the history of art from the 60’s to the present day. Dance theatre, film, video, fashion performance, live-art and multimedia productions also grace the interior of this former umbrella factory, now a cross-border, multi-discipline showcase for the contemporary arts.

The Suermondt Ludwig Museum is home to one of Germany’s greatest medieval sculpture collections from the 12th to the 16th centuries and a fantastic collection of altar carvings. Previously a rich man’s town palace, it now shows off artistic wonders from classical times to the present day including wonderful medieval madonnas and works of the great 17th century Dutch masters as well as being a showcase for exhibitions by great photographers.

Discover history in Aachen's museums

Aachen’s “best-known living room”, the Couven Museum, shows the development of middle-class home décor from the 18th and 19th centuries and also houses a reconstruction of the Adler pharmacy, the birthplace of confectionery production in Aachen.

Civil disobedience is the underlying theme at the Zollmuseum Friedrichs (Friedrichs Border Customs Museum), which keeps alive memories of the life and times of our national frontiers and includes documentary evidence of the “border capers” that went on in the 1950’s when customs officials and smugglers were still engaging in real-life chases.

The International Newspaper Museum, housed in the former “Aachen Great Hall”, a 15th century residential building, is a multimedia experience. One of the most up-to-the-minute, revealing exhibitions on 21st century media is being shown in five themed rooms and uses modern, easy-to-follow techniques to show visitors how the media influence consumers, for example with the “Chaos Chamber” showing today’s omnipresent media deluge and themed exhibitions such as “From the event to the news item” and “Truth & Lies”. With around 200,000 newspapers spanning five centuries in almost all languages, the museum exhibits the world’s largest collection of first editions, anniversary editions and closing editions which may also be accessed online.

These places are definitely worth a visit – not just on a rainy Sunday afternoon! With their collections and temporary exhibitions, Aachen’s museums will lead you time and again on exciting voyages of discovery.