Zumthor’s Cologne modern art museum is beyond time

Peter Zumthor’s remarkable museum of modern art in Cologne meshes ancient and modern to create a timeless and evocative building.

‘The largest heap of rubble in the world,” is how the German architect Rudolf Schwarz described Cologne in 1945. Over the course of 262 bombing raids, 78% of the city and almost 95% of its historic centre had been destroyed. After the war, Schwarz was handed the job of drawing up the reconstruction plan. His Stadlandschaften (“city landscape”) scheme laid down a network of new infrastructure and associated green spaces but, where possible, called for the medieval street pattern to be re-established.

While much that has been built here over the past 60 years is underwhelming, this critical decision has ensured that modern Cologne is a good deal more urban in character than other heavily reconstructed cities such as Coventry in the UK. Schwarz’s plan also allowed for the reconstruction of many of its medieval monuments.

Soon, architects of the Cologne school — figures such as Karl Band, Hans Schilling and Emil Steffann — had established a worldwide reputation for their inventive remodelling of the city’s ruined heritage. St Kolumba was one of two particularly badly damaged parish churches that were transformed into memorial gardens during the fifties.