Kolumba
Kolumbastraße 4
D-50667 Köln
tel +49 (0)221 9331930
fax +49 (0)221 93319333


Awards
for Architecture, Museum concept, Exhibitions,
Art education and Publications

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge Prize (2017)
Award winner: Stefan Kraus
This prize was established by the Stiftung Preussische Seehandlung in 1994 to recognize exceptional services in art education in the German-speaking countries. It is awarded every two years upon a decision taken by a single juror. It is not possible to apply. The public award ceremony takes place at the Berlinische Galerie. The prize money is to be used for new art activities undertaken by the prizewinner. Earlier prizewinners in-clude Matthias Flügge (1994), Harald Szeemann (1997), Bernhard Leit-ner (2007), Stephanie Barron and Eckhard Gillen (2011). | The jury’s rati-onale is as follows: “For more than 25 years, Stefan Kraus has been in-volved with art education. First at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, then from 1991on at the Kölner Erzbischöflichen Diözesanmuseum, an institution known as Kolumba since 2004. This is a place of art, which trusts entirely in the presence of the works, relying upon the aesthetic and spiritual po-wers that stem solely from perceiving them through concentration. To Stefan Kraus’s way of thinking, art education is to evoke the “aesthetic moment” as a form of knowledge only possible through art, which he describes as an “existential human experience”. Didactics, explanations or linguistic visualizations are no replacements for this moment tied to the work and space and time. The fact that Kolumba forgoes any kind of extravaganza or blockbuster, crowd-pleasing events and dispenses with audio guides as well as text panels is a result of this attitude. This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that, as a necessary condition for humanity, aesthetic education must begin early on and can never be completed. Kraus has illustrated his complex understanding of the current responsibi-lities of the Museum in impressive articles.” (Matthias Flügge, Rector of the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden) | The award ceremony took place on 14 November 2017 at the Berlinische Galerie.

The Most Beautiful German Books (2017)
Award winner: “glauben-Andachtsbildchen von A-Z”
From 772 submissions, the 25 most beautiful German books for 2016 were selected among five categories in a two-step procedure. The award ceremony took place on 14 September – parallel to Kolumba’s 10th birthday anniversary – at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt. The prize was accepted for the Kolumba Team by Ulrike Surmann and Miriam Verhey (editing) as well as Bärbel Messmann (book design) and Georgios Michailoudis (image editing). The jury explained its decision as follows: “Mary with the Infant Jesus, bedded upon flowers and lace, rises thoughtfully from a corner on the front. With the Trinity composed of pas-tel flowers, chased halos and the subtitle “Andachtsbildchen von A–Z (Small devotional images from A-Z)” a bell goes off in our heads: Can this be serious? Beneath the book jacket, the binding covered in a fine weave with a slight sheen, its title repeated and embossed with copper-colored foil, makes us think of liturgical vestments. Salmon-pink colored endpapers and the same colored paper for the index and bibliography in the middle of this hefty 2.3-kilogram volume may be interpreted as a me-taphor for innocent flesh. So much dignity must be founded on serious-ness. Under the ingenious heading “Problem”, we learn more about the initial situation of the project, that from out of the 30,000 devotional images in the holdings of the Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese, the publishers had nevertheless been able to select 1503. What could be done with this potpourri of heartwarming yet somehow inconvenient items in the inventory? The lexically arranged categories with their short, pithy texts cause the small images to speak. The undogmatic arrangements of the images ensure that the double pages remain airy; restrained yet func-tionally numbered references decorate the book paper; Details of the, for the most part small-format, contemplative prints are shown to utter advan-tage on full-page decorated spreads. Here a medium of Catholic popular piety has space to unfold. The motif on the American book jacket is ren-dered as a detail of a large-surface collage of enlarged devotional images. The exuberant ornamentation makes us feel inclined to hang the cover, spread out to poster form, nicely above the bed – as a replace-ment for the Good Shepherd.” (www.stiftung-buchkunst.de)

Museum of the Year (2013)
Award winners: Employees of Kolumba
November 18, 2013 : The German Section of the International Associati-on of Art Critics ( AICA ) declared Kolumba as "Museum of the Year 2013". This decision was explained with the rationale that the museum was distinguished by its »outstanding architecture« as well as its "first-rate collection that spans the gap between the art of the old Masters and contemporary art". In addition, it also provides an audience and stage for artists who generally do not attract much media interest. | The award ce-remony took place at Kolumba on Monday, May 5, 2014. On the same occasion a prize was to be awarded for the best exhibition (Museum Folkwang, Essen) with a further prize for the best special exhibition (Mu-seum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach). Admission is free. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. | The following is the complete text listing the reasons the jury gave for reaching its decision: »Each year, the AICA Germany honors a museum, which distinguishes itself through the autonomy of its program and counters the prevailing trends of art as entertainment. This year's award goes to a museum, whose collection harks back to 1853, and whose new building, expansion of the collection, and exhibition concept has been continually revised and refined down to the last detail over the course of the past decades: Kolumba Museum, as the Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese is referred to today. Around 1990, the decision was made to expand the museum's old holdings of ecclesiastical artifacts to include works of contemporary art that dealt in the broadest sense with Christian values, the sublime, the numinous, or else with the timeless. In 1991, the bar was put high when the philosopher Walter Warnach do-nated a Beuys work that consisted of an ammunition box with "Cross with Sun", and a spruce trunk with "miner's lamp". Hence, there was an un-derstanding of contemporary art as being in continuity with the museum's old holdings. It is a mutual encounter of tradition and innovation. This aspect also applies to the extraordinary architecture of the museum de-signed by Peter Zumthor, which opened in 2007. The architect has built a sensitive and sophisticated new building around the collection, with rooms of varying heights that correspond optimally to the needs for exhi-biting the collection and presenting special exhibitions that change an-nually. In addition, he made it possible to visit the ruins of the St. Kolum-ba church, thus creating a symbiosis between the church destroyed in the war and the collection of the Archdiocese. The Kolumba Museum's emphasis is on perception and contemplation: There is no staging using light effects, there is only the daylight for presenting artworks equally. It is left up to the visitor to select his own favorites. There are no labels, but there is a booklet containing brief information about the exhibited works. There are places to sit down, but there are no disruptive guided tours during opening hours. There is no cafeteria and no shop, but the admis-sion ticket is valid for the entire day and one may enter and leave the museum repeatedly. Once each year, the collection is re-structured ac-cording to certain thematic criteria. This year's theme is the shrine. Each year there is only one monographic exhibition, which focuses on an artist whose work connects thematically with the collection. Accompanying the exhibition is a well thought- out and lavishly designed publication contai-ning comprehensive professional expertise. To substantiate the continuity from exhibition to exhibition, works that had been on display in the speci-al annual exhibition of the previous year are integrated into the display of the collection for its next hanging of works. The program of accom-panying events, by contrast, examines various aspects of the special exhibition. In summary, Kolumba Museum is distinguished by its superb architecture, its first-rate collection that spans the gap between the art of the old masters and contemporary art, and its convincing and logical ex-hibition concept that goes hand in hand with the collection and which presents artists situated at the periphery of media interest. Everything is geared towards contemplation and perception, for attuning us to the slowness of seeing - this is truly a museum that acts against the rush of time, and thus, it is a museum that goes against the grain, precisely what the AICA appreciates.« Koblenz, Danièle Perrier 2013 (source: www.aica.de )

Large Nike (2013)
Bund Deutscher Architekten
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor & Partner / Cologne Archdiocese
For the third time, the BDA has awarded the »Nike«, a prize that honors Germany's architects and building sponsors for their outstanding achie-vements in architecture and urban development. In each of six categories defining the essential elements of architectural and urban planning quali-ties, a »Nike« was awarded. The »Large Nike«, a sculpture created by Wieland Förster, goes to the most notable project to have come about in recent years. | The jury's decision went to: »Kolumba. Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese. In every respect, it is an extraordinary place. Here, Peter Zumthor has created a spatial composition that - in grappling with the history of the location - has assembled the many disparate elements to form an unmistakably distinctive whole. The visitor to the Museum en-ters into another world where the noisy city just outside it is immediately forgotten and the testimonies of buildings of the past, illuminated by in-cidental rays of light, enter into dialogue with the ambitious concept of the art museum of the Archdiocese. The new museum building takes up the building lines of the Gothic St. Kolumba Church precisely, integrating them into the existing structure. The facade of the new museum rises up from pre-existing foundations. The chapel "Madonna in the Ruins", built by Gottfried Böhm in the 1950s, is incorporated with its own separate entrance. It stands amongst a landscape of ruins along with the founda-tions of the predecessor churches. This ruins landscape, being at once the largest and most unique exhibition space, gets its light through the perforated filter structure of the brick facade. Above this central space, and supported by twelve-meter-high steel supports, the actual museum seems to float, transforming the excavation site into a seemingly sacred place of worship and contemplation. Thus, the old, preserved structure is joined with the new to form an architecturally shaped history. Sublimely, the interior exhibition rooms on the upper level reveal themselves to be a composition of light, material and space. We find exhibition halls veiled in bright daylight followed by artificially lit cabinet rooms, wide and narrow openings, intimate reflections on art and intended views out to the city. In the Kolumba building, Peter Zumthor addresses the fundamental questi-ons of architecture with respect to space, time, material and urban layout. His answer inspires in us a wonderful way to see, feel, experience and contemplate. Kolumba has become a place of dignity through its simplici-ty and extremely precise architecture, which convinces us in every detail.« | The award ceremony took place on June 21, 2013 at the Film Museum in Frankfurt. Laudatory speech was held by Michael Frielinghaus. | Jury: Prof. Andreas Emminger, johannsraum. Studio for Architecture, Nurem-berg; Michael Frielinghaus. BLFP Frielinghaus architect and president of BDA. Friedberg; Dr Roman Hollenstein, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich; Prof. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Jourda Architectes, Paris; Anne Kaestle, Duplex Architekten, Zurich; Ulla Luther. State Councilor, ret., Berlin; Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the German Architecture Museum DAM. Frankfurt / Main

Nike for Atmosphere (2013)
Bund Deutscher Architekten
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor & Partner / Cologne Archdiocese
The »Nike for Atmosphere« is awarded to a work that conveys a special, consistent and harmonious, atmospheric impression of spatial effect insi-de or out by means of its shape and appearance, its design of material, light, or colors. | The decision of the jury: »The Art Museum of the Colog-ne Archdiocese sees itself as a "living museum": The presentation con-cept displays works from different periods of art in changing "juxtapositi-ons", independent of stylistic and medial contexts. Central to a viewer's reception is the ability to engage in a direct dialogue with the art. The architecture of the building reflects this sophisticated idea of dialogue with its own means. It is an intensely atmospheric blend of past and present, fascinating us with strong impressions of space and carefully executed details. The exhibition rooms have in common a sleek simplicity of the materials used: brick, mortar, and clay plaster as well as natural stone, terrazzo, and smooth screed on the floors. The asceticism and elegance shown in the interior continue outdoors into the urban space. Here, by way of its perforated frieze and the large glass surfaces, the museum displays creative strength. For the façade, a special brick was developed in a flat Roman format following the ocher-gray sandstone of the ruinous remains of St. Kolumba. The choice of materials, the lighting, and the carefully composed sequences of rooms invite museum visitors to experience the spaces, the art, and the city from a meditative viewpoint.« | The award ceremony took place on June 21, 2013 at the Film Museum in Frankfurt. Laudatory speech was held by Michael Frielinghaus. | Jury: Prof. Andreas Emminger, johannsraum. Studio for Architecture, Nurem-berg; Michael Frielinghaus. BLFP Frielinghaus architect and president of BDA. Friedberg; Dr Roman Hollenstein, Neue Zürcher Zeitung Newspa-per, Zurich; Prof. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Jourda Architectes, Paris; Anne Kaestle, Duplex Architekten, Zurich; Ulla Luther. State Councilor, ret., Berlin; Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the German Architecture Museum DAM. Frankfurt / Main

Architecture Prize NRW | First Prize (2011)
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor / Cologne Archdiocese
Tribute: »A person entering this building experiences the magic that ar-chitecture can conjure up. The successful combination of historic and contemporary elements unfolds a sensual potency, which at once im-presses the visitor with strong sensations of space and fine details. The choice of materials, the treatment of light, and the carefully composed sequence of rooms join to become an integral whole. Likewise, with respect to urban space, this stone building construction conveys a quiet strength and in doing so, integrates in an almost playful, self-evident manner the fragments of the building’s historical legacy, the perforated frieze of stones, and the large glass surfaces into a highly expressive contemporary building. It is an encounter with a lasting impression.« (BDA Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen (ed.), Baukultur in NRW 2010, Co-logne 2011, p. 14). | Jury: Prof. Claus Anderhalten (architect, Berlin), Dr. Wolfgang Bachmann (journalist, Munich), Achim Dahlheimer (state government, Düsseldorf), Prof. Almut Grüntuch-Ernst (architect, Berlin), Ansgar Schulz (architect, Leipzig), and as advisor: Martin Halfmann (archi-tect, chairman of the BDA, Cologne). | The prize was awarded on Sep-tember 19 in a festive ceremony at the Maxhaus in Düsseldorf. Represen-ting the prizewinner: General Vicar Dr. Schwaderlapp, Master Builder of the Archdiocese Martin Struck, Museum Director Dr. Stefan Kraus.

Cologne Architecture Prize | 1st. Prize (2010)
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor / Cologne Archdiocese
Tribute: »For no other building has the nomination for this award been so unanimously agreed upon without further discussion as the new Kolumba Museum. Peter Zumthor’s building is an exceptional museum, precisely because it seems so restrained and contemplative in the midst of all the fracas about competitions for cultural buildings. With the exception of the heavily grained red wood paneling in the reading room, all of the ele-ments in this work of art are quiet, respectful and sensually reserved. Even the three mighty light towers in the uppermost storey that bestow the artworks with upward-striving sublimity, fulfill this function with due respect. Composed as a fortress of light and changing volumes, this house of exhibitions consists of discreet sensations. Each hall leading upwards through the art reveals different proportions and lighting conditi-ons; what is dark and flat opens into wide and light spaces, artificially lit cabinets alternate with halls flooded with daylight, their large windows structuring the façade as well. The filter frieze made of yellow bricks, which lights the excavation sites in the old St. Kolumba Church, around whose foundations and remains the museum was fashioned, is just as fortunate an invention of restraint and contemplation as the “cloister cour-tyard” behind the entrance, which creates a place of spiritual strength on the old cemetery. Also in the urban space between shopping passages, the WDR buildings, and the opera square, so flooded with symbols and styles, Zumthor’s protestant stringency creates a zone of rest, in which the remains of Catholic architecture are preserved with utmost care. His genius for translating the spirit of the search for meaning and answers, reflection and humility into timeless haptic and visual qualities, allows us to venture that Peter Zumthor’s Kolumba would manage to win the Co-logne Architecture Prize even a hundred years from now.« (Till Briegleb). | Tender and Realization: Kölner Architekturpreis e.V., Responsible for the Kölner Architekturpreis e.V.: Architektur Forum Rheinland (AFR) / Bund Deutscher Architekten Köln (BDA) / Deutscher Werkbund Nordrhein-Westfalen (dwb NW) / Kölnischer Kunstverein (KKV). | Jury: Merlin Bauer, artist, Cologne/ Till Briegleb, journalist, Hamburg /Birgit Rudacs, architect BDA, Munich / Markus Schwieger, architect, Darmstadt / Carsten Venus, architect, Hamburg. The jury convened on 24 and 25 September 2010. | The award ceremony took place on 25 September in Cologne’s Spicher-höfen. The prize was accepted for the winner by Master Builder of the Archdiocese Martin Struck and Museum Director Stefan Kraus.

Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation (2009)
Award winners: The Team of Curators at Kolumba
Press Release by the hbs Cultural Foundation: The team of Kolumba’s curators has won the Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation for achieving the successful interplay between exhibition design and archi-tecture. Receiving the honors are the five curators: Dr. Joachim Plotzek (who directed the museum from 1990 to April 2008), Dr. Stefan Kraus (curator since 1991, museum director since 2008), Dr. Katharina Winne-kes, Dr. Ulrike Surmann, Dr. Marc Steinmann. With its new building desig-ned by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, Kolumba is synonymous with the aesthetic linking of location, architecture, and the collection. Distinctive architecture frequently poses major challenges for the creators of exhibi-tions: How can the exhibition be presented on a par with a formidable building? The team of curators at Kolumba, which has been developing the new concepts of the former Museum of the Diocese since 1990, and accompanying its new planning from 1997 on, now shows the collection in temporary exhibitions that change annually, has managed this balan-cing act. “Kolumba does many things differently than other museums – and thus, it gets everything right”, praises the art magazine MONOPOL in its September 2008 edition, for example. »The Prize acknowledges the curators’ achievement, whose competence, and care, cleverness and solidity is proven anew with quality in every structural variation. For this reason, Kolumba has developed into one of the leading institutions in dealing with artworks«, states Professor Gottfried Korff, emeritus at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute of the University of Tübingen, whom the jury as-signed the task of selecting the prizewinner. | The Prize of 5,000 Euros is awarded every two years by the hbs Cultural Foundation, singling out curators and exhibition organizers throughout Germany, who have decisi-vely contributed to working on a contemporary exhibition at a museum or exhibition hall. The jury selects a respective specialist, who directly choo-ses the prizewinner. The intention hereby is to tap the individual horizon of experience of known museum experts for this evaluation. The hbs Cul-tural Foundation was founded in 1998 by the couple Dr. Heinz and Brigit-te Schirnig, under the auspices of the trustees of the Lower Saxony Sparkassen Foundation. The Foundation concentrates its means on supporting curators, who realize unusual exhibition plans. (information: www.kulturstiftungen-hbs.de). | The jury of the Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation: Dr. Judith Oexle, Saxony State Ministry of the Interi-or, Dresden; Dr. Sabine Schormann, Foundation Director, Lower Saxony Sparkasse Foundation, Hannover; Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck, Senator for Culture, Free and Hansa City Hamburg; Dr. Heinz Schirnig, Chairman of the Board, hbs Cultural Foundation, Uelzen | The Prize was awarded on March 5, 2009 in a festive ceremony at Kolumba.

Hanns-Schaefer Prize (2008)
Cologne Association of Home and Property Owners
Award winner: The Archdiocese of Cologne
»There are several prizes for architecture in Germany, even though they are by far not as numerous as literature prizes. But there are hardly any prizes for the building sponsor, although every architect knows that a house can only be as good as the building sponsor allows it to be. There-fore, the Cologne Association of Home and Property Owners, established in 1888, sets a signal in awarding the Hanns-Schaefer Prize this year to a building sponsor, namely to Joachim Cardinal Meisner for the Kolumba Art Museum built by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (F.A.Z. Newspaper of 15 September). The laudatory speech to honor the prizewinner was held by Andreas Rossmann, culture correspondent of this newspaper in Northrhine Westphalia, who took the audience on a travel through time to 2088, when the Association will be celebrating its 200th anniversary, pro-viding a speculative review of Cologne’s city development, which, inspired and departing from Kolumba, will have attained new attention with respect to city planning as a result of a momentous alliance between master builders and their sponsors. “If architecture is treated like this and if the attitude Kolumba has exemplarily demonstrated toward the city rubs off on other builders and wins followers, then soon we will no longer have to worry about the city panorama of Cologne.« (Cardinal Meisner honored as sponsor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 December 2008)

DAM Award for Architecture in Germany| 1st Prize (2008)
Award winners: Peter Zumthor / Archdiocese of Cologne
»Peter Zumthor's art museum of the archbishopric of Cologne is a valid answer to the worldwide trend toward 'architecture spectacle'. The ar-chaeology that is interpreted here as also involving an architectural se-arch for traces of the past, is an archaeology not of the ground but of the spirit, not only of the place, but of its essence.« (Gerhard Matzig, Jury). »Architecture and artworks are melded here in perfect harmony, uncon-ventional yet unspectacular. One wants to come back, again and again.« (Ursula Baus, Jury) »Time is the most important parameter in this building. Enough time. The developer had plenty of time; the architect needed a great deal of time and took full advantage of it.« (Peter Cachola Schmal, Jury).
Brick Award | 1st Prize (2008)
Award winners: Peter Zumthor / Kolumba
The Brick Award, which amounts to a total of 21,000 euros, is given out every two years for outstanding European brick architecture, and is orga-nized by the Wienerberger Company. An international jury of renowned architects and architectural critics judge the submitted projects: »This project which was both remarkable externally and internally was described by one jury member a a 'miracle'. The jury were impressed by the raltions-hip between the antiquities, the surrounding urban fabric and the new building and particularly liked the juxtaposition of the existing stone with the new brickwork with all its imperfections. We liked the original use of Roman brick / tile and the quality of light that was filtered through the brickwok on to the exhibits and the archaeological remains. All in all this is a formidable piece of architecture that is destined to become one of Co-logne's great landmarks as well as an extraordinary visitor experience.« (George Ferguson, Chairman of the Jury, in: brick '08, S.8)
 
www.kolumba.de

KOLUMBA :: Information :: Awards

Awards
for Architecture, Museum concept, Exhibitions,
Art education and Publications

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge Prize (2017)
Award winner: Stefan Kraus
This prize was established by the Stiftung Preussische Seehandlung in 1994 to recognize exceptional services in art education in the German-speaking countries. It is awarded every two years upon a decision taken by a single juror. It is not possible to apply. The public award ceremony takes place at the Berlinische Galerie. The prize money is to be used for new art activities undertaken by the prizewinner. Earlier prizewinners in-clude Matthias Flügge (1994), Harald Szeemann (1997), Bernhard Leit-ner (2007), Stephanie Barron and Eckhard Gillen (2011). | The jury’s rati-onale is as follows: “For more than 25 years, Stefan Kraus has been in-volved with art education. First at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, then from 1991on at the Kölner Erzbischöflichen Diözesanmuseum, an institution known as Kolumba since 2004. This is a place of art, which trusts entirely in the presence of the works, relying upon the aesthetic and spiritual po-wers that stem solely from perceiving them through concentration. To Stefan Kraus’s way of thinking, art education is to evoke the “aesthetic moment” as a form of knowledge only possible through art, which he describes as an “existential human experience”. Didactics, explanations or linguistic visualizations are no replacements for this moment tied to the work and space and time. The fact that Kolumba forgoes any kind of extravaganza or blockbuster, crowd-pleasing events and dispenses with audio guides as well as text panels is a result of this attitude. This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that, as a necessary condition for humanity, aesthetic education must begin early on and can never be completed. Kraus has illustrated his complex understanding of the current responsibi-lities of the Museum in impressive articles.” (Matthias Flügge, Rector of the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden) | The award ceremony took place on 14 November 2017 at the Berlinische Galerie.

The Most Beautiful German Books (2017)
Award winner: “glauben-Andachtsbildchen von A-Z”
From 772 submissions, the 25 most beautiful German books for 2016 were selected among five categories in a two-step procedure. The award ceremony took place on 14 September – parallel to Kolumba’s 10th birthday anniversary – at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt. The prize was accepted for the Kolumba Team by Ulrike Surmann and Miriam Verhey (editing) as well as Bärbel Messmann (book design) and Georgios Michailoudis (image editing). The jury explained its decision as follows: “Mary with the Infant Jesus, bedded upon flowers and lace, rises thoughtfully from a corner on the front. With the Trinity composed of pas-tel flowers, chased halos and the subtitle “Andachtsbildchen von A–Z (Small devotional images from A-Z)” a bell goes off in our heads: Can this be serious? Beneath the book jacket, the binding covered in a fine weave with a slight sheen, its title repeated and embossed with copper-colored foil, makes us think of liturgical vestments. Salmon-pink colored endpapers and the same colored paper for the index and bibliography in the middle of this hefty 2.3-kilogram volume may be interpreted as a me-taphor for innocent flesh. So much dignity must be founded on serious-ness. Under the ingenious heading “Problem”, we learn more about the initial situation of the project, that from out of the 30,000 devotional images in the holdings of the Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese, the publishers had nevertheless been able to select 1503. What could be done with this potpourri of heartwarming yet somehow inconvenient items in the inventory? The lexically arranged categories with their short, pithy texts cause the small images to speak. The undogmatic arrangements of the images ensure that the double pages remain airy; restrained yet func-tionally numbered references decorate the book paper; Details of the, for the most part small-format, contemplative prints are shown to utter advan-tage on full-page decorated spreads. Here a medium of Catholic popular piety has space to unfold. The motif on the American book jacket is ren-dered as a detail of a large-surface collage of enlarged devotional images. The exuberant ornamentation makes us feel inclined to hang the cover, spread out to poster form, nicely above the bed – as a replace-ment for the Good Shepherd.” (www.stiftung-buchkunst.de)

Museum of the Year (2013)
Award winners: Employees of Kolumba
November 18, 2013 : The German Section of the International Associati-on of Art Critics ( AICA ) declared Kolumba as "Museum of the Year 2013". This decision was explained with the rationale that the museum was distinguished by its »outstanding architecture« as well as its "first-rate collection that spans the gap between the art of the old Masters and contemporary art". In addition, it also provides an audience and stage for artists who generally do not attract much media interest. | The award ce-remony took place at Kolumba on Monday, May 5, 2014. On the same occasion a prize was to be awarded for the best exhibition (Museum Folkwang, Essen) with a further prize for the best special exhibition (Mu-seum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach). Admission is free. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. | The following is the complete text listing the reasons the jury gave for reaching its decision: »Each year, the AICA Germany honors a museum, which distinguishes itself through the autonomy of its program and counters the prevailing trends of art as entertainment. This year's award goes to a museum, whose collection harks back to 1853, and whose new building, expansion of the collection, and exhibition concept has been continually revised and refined down to the last detail over the course of the past decades: Kolumba Museum, as the Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese is referred to today. Around 1990, the decision was made to expand the museum's old holdings of ecclesiastical artifacts to include works of contemporary art that dealt in the broadest sense with Christian values, the sublime, the numinous, or else with the timeless. In 1991, the bar was put high when the philosopher Walter Warnach do-nated a Beuys work that consisted of an ammunition box with "Cross with Sun", and a spruce trunk with "miner's lamp". Hence, there was an un-derstanding of contemporary art as being in continuity with the museum's old holdings. It is a mutual encounter of tradition and innovation. This aspect also applies to the extraordinary architecture of the museum de-signed by Peter Zumthor, which opened in 2007. The architect has built a sensitive and sophisticated new building around the collection, with rooms of varying heights that correspond optimally to the needs for exhi-biting the collection and presenting special exhibitions that change an-nually. In addition, he made it possible to visit the ruins of the St. Kolum-ba church, thus creating a symbiosis between the church destroyed in the war and the collection of the Archdiocese. The Kolumba Museum's emphasis is on perception and contemplation: There is no staging using light effects, there is only the daylight for presenting artworks equally. It is left up to the visitor to select his own favorites. There are no labels, but there is a booklet containing brief information about the exhibited works. There are places to sit down, but there are no disruptive guided tours during opening hours. There is no cafeteria and no shop, but the admis-sion ticket is valid for the entire day and one may enter and leave the museum repeatedly. Once each year, the collection is re-structured ac-cording to certain thematic criteria. This year's theme is the shrine. Each year there is only one monographic exhibition, which focuses on an artist whose work connects thematically with the collection. Accompanying the exhibition is a well thought- out and lavishly designed publication contai-ning comprehensive professional expertise. To substantiate the continuity from exhibition to exhibition, works that had been on display in the speci-al annual exhibition of the previous year are integrated into the display of the collection for its next hanging of works. The program of accom-panying events, by contrast, examines various aspects of the special exhibition. In summary, Kolumba Museum is distinguished by its superb architecture, its first-rate collection that spans the gap between the art of the old masters and contemporary art, and its convincing and logical ex-hibition concept that goes hand in hand with the collection and which presents artists situated at the periphery of media interest. Everything is geared towards contemplation and perception, for attuning us to the slowness of seeing - this is truly a museum that acts against the rush of time, and thus, it is a museum that goes against the grain, precisely what the AICA appreciates.« Koblenz, Danièle Perrier 2013 (source: www.aica.de )

Large Nike (2013)
Bund Deutscher Architekten
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor & Partner / Cologne Archdiocese
For the third time, the BDA has awarded the »Nike«, a prize that honors Germany's architects and building sponsors for their outstanding achie-vements in architecture and urban development. In each of six categories defining the essential elements of architectural and urban planning quali-ties, a »Nike« was awarded. The »Large Nike«, a sculpture created by Wieland Förster, goes to the most notable project to have come about in recent years. | The jury's decision went to: »Kolumba. Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese. In every respect, it is an extraordinary place. Here, Peter Zumthor has created a spatial composition that - in grappling with the history of the location - has assembled the many disparate elements to form an unmistakably distinctive whole. The visitor to the Museum en-ters into another world where the noisy city just outside it is immediately forgotten and the testimonies of buildings of the past, illuminated by in-cidental rays of light, enter into dialogue with the ambitious concept of the art museum of the Archdiocese. The new museum building takes up the building lines of the Gothic St. Kolumba Church precisely, integrating them into the existing structure. The facade of the new museum rises up from pre-existing foundations. The chapel "Madonna in the Ruins", built by Gottfried Böhm in the 1950s, is incorporated with its own separate entrance. It stands amongst a landscape of ruins along with the founda-tions of the predecessor churches. This ruins landscape, being at once the largest and most unique exhibition space, gets its light through the perforated filter structure of the brick facade. Above this central space, and supported by twelve-meter-high steel supports, the actual museum seems to float, transforming the excavation site into a seemingly sacred place of worship and contemplation. Thus, the old, preserved structure is joined with the new to form an architecturally shaped history. Sublimely, the interior exhibition rooms on the upper level reveal themselves to be a composition of light, material and space. We find exhibition halls veiled in bright daylight followed by artificially lit cabinet rooms, wide and narrow openings, intimate reflections on art and intended views out to the city. In the Kolumba building, Peter Zumthor addresses the fundamental questi-ons of architecture with respect to space, time, material and urban layout. His answer inspires in us a wonderful way to see, feel, experience and contemplate. Kolumba has become a place of dignity through its simplici-ty and extremely precise architecture, which convinces us in every detail.« | The award ceremony took place on June 21, 2013 at the Film Museum in Frankfurt. Laudatory speech was held by Michael Frielinghaus. | Jury: Prof. Andreas Emminger, johannsraum. Studio for Architecture, Nurem-berg; Michael Frielinghaus. BLFP Frielinghaus architect and president of BDA. Friedberg; Dr Roman Hollenstein, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich; Prof. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Jourda Architectes, Paris; Anne Kaestle, Duplex Architekten, Zurich; Ulla Luther. State Councilor, ret., Berlin; Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the German Architecture Museum DAM. Frankfurt / Main

Nike for Atmosphere (2013)
Bund Deutscher Architekten
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor & Partner / Cologne Archdiocese
The »Nike for Atmosphere« is awarded to a work that conveys a special, consistent and harmonious, atmospheric impression of spatial effect insi-de or out by means of its shape and appearance, its design of material, light, or colors. | The decision of the jury: »The Art Museum of the Colog-ne Archdiocese sees itself as a "living museum": The presentation con-cept displays works from different periods of art in changing "juxtapositi-ons", independent of stylistic and medial contexts. Central to a viewer's reception is the ability to engage in a direct dialogue with the art. The architecture of the building reflects this sophisticated idea of dialogue with its own means. It is an intensely atmospheric blend of past and present, fascinating us with strong impressions of space and carefully executed details. The exhibition rooms have in common a sleek simplicity of the materials used: brick, mortar, and clay plaster as well as natural stone, terrazzo, and smooth screed on the floors. The asceticism and elegance shown in the interior continue outdoors into the urban space. Here, by way of its perforated frieze and the large glass surfaces, the museum displays creative strength. For the façade, a special brick was developed in a flat Roman format following the ocher-gray sandstone of the ruinous remains of St. Kolumba. The choice of materials, the lighting, and the carefully composed sequences of rooms invite museum visitors to experience the spaces, the art, and the city from a meditative viewpoint.« | The award ceremony took place on June 21, 2013 at the Film Museum in Frankfurt. Laudatory speech was held by Michael Frielinghaus. | Jury: Prof. Andreas Emminger, johannsraum. Studio for Architecture, Nurem-berg; Michael Frielinghaus. BLFP Frielinghaus architect and president of BDA. Friedberg; Dr Roman Hollenstein, Neue Zürcher Zeitung Newspa-per, Zurich; Prof. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Jourda Architectes, Paris; Anne Kaestle, Duplex Architekten, Zurich; Ulla Luther. State Councilor, ret., Berlin; Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the German Architecture Museum DAM. Frankfurt / Main

Architecture Prize NRW | First Prize (2011)
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor / Cologne Archdiocese
Tribute: »A person entering this building experiences the magic that ar-chitecture can conjure up. The successful combination of historic and contemporary elements unfolds a sensual potency, which at once im-presses the visitor with strong sensations of space and fine details. The choice of materials, the treatment of light, and the carefully composed sequence of rooms join to become an integral whole. Likewise, with respect to urban space, this stone building construction conveys a quiet strength and in doing so, integrates in an almost playful, self-evident manner the fragments of the building’s historical legacy, the perforated frieze of stones, and the large glass surfaces into a highly expressive contemporary building. It is an encounter with a lasting impression.« (BDA Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen (ed.), Baukultur in NRW 2010, Co-logne 2011, p. 14). | Jury: Prof. Claus Anderhalten (architect, Berlin), Dr. Wolfgang Bachmann (journalist, Munich), Achim Dahlheimer (state government, Düsseldorf), Prof. Almut Grüntuch-Ernst (architect, Berlin), Ansgar Schulz (architect, Leipzig), and as advisor: Martin Halfmann (archi-tect, chairman of the BDA, Cologne). | The prize was awarded on Sep-tember 19 in a festive ceremony at the Maxhaus in Düsseldorf. Represen-ting the prizewinner: General Vicar Dr. Schwaderlapp, Master Builder of the Archdiocese Martin Struck, Museum Director Dr. Stefan Kraus.

Cologne Architecture Prize | 1st. Prize (2010)
Award winners: Architect Peter Zumthor / Cologne Archdiocese
Tribute: »For no other building has the nomination for this award been so unanimously agreed upon without further discussion as the new Kolumba Museum. Peter Zumthor’s building is an exceptional museum, precisely because it seems so restrained and contemplative in the midst of all the fracas about competitions for cultural buildings. With the exception of the heavily grained red wood paneling in the reading room, all of the ele-ments in this work of art are quiet, respectful and sensually reserved. Even the three mighty light towers in the uppermost storey that bestow the artworks with upward-striving sublimity, fulfill this function with due respect. Composed as a fortress of light and changing volumes, this house of exhibitions consists of discreet sensations. Each hall leading upwards through the art reveals different proportions and lighting conditi-ons; what is dark and flat opens into wide and light spaces, artificially lit cabinets alternate with halls flooded with daylight, their large windows structuring the façade as well. The filter frieze made of yellow bricks, which lights the excavation sites in the old St. Kolumba Church, around whose foundations and remains the museum was fashioned, is just as fortunate an invention of restraint and contemplation as the “cloister cour-tyard” behind the entrance, which creates a place of spiritual strength on the old cemetery. Also in the urban space between shopping passages, the WDR buildings, and the opera square, so flooded with symbols and styles, Zumthor’s protestant stringency creates a zone of rest, in which the remains of Catholic architecture are preserved with utmost care. His genius for translating the spirit of the search for meaning and answers, reflection and humility into timeless haptic and visual qualities, allows us to venture that Peter Zumthor’s Kolumba would manage to win the Co-logne Architecture Prize even a hundred years from now.« (Till Briegleb). | Tender and Realization: Kölner Architekturpreis e.V., Responsible for the Kölner Architekturpreis e.V.: Architektur Forum Rheinland (AFR) / Bund Deutscher Architekten Köln (BDA) / Deutscher Werkbund Nordrhein-Westfalen (dwb NW) / Kölnischer Kunstverein (KKV). | Jury: Merlin Bauer, artist, Cologne/ Till Briegleb, journalist, Hamburg /Birgit Rudacs, architect BDA, Munich / Markus Schwieger, architect, Darmstadt / Carsten Venus, architect, Hamburg. The jury convened on 24 and 25 September 2010. | The award ceremony took place on 25 September in Cologne’s Spicher-höfen. The prize was accepted for the winner by Master Builder of the Archdiocese Martin Struck and Museum Director Stefan Kraus.

Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation (2009)
Award winners: The Team of Curators at Kolumba
Press Release by the hbs Cultural Foundation: The team of Kolumba’s curators has won the Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation for achieving the successful interplay between exhibition design and archi-tecture. Receiving the honors are the five curators: Dr. Joachim Plotzek (who directed the museum from 1990 to April 2008), Dr. Stefan Kraus (curator since 1991, museum director since 2008), Dr. Katharina Winne-kes, Dr. Ulrike Surmann, Dr. Marc Steinmann. With its new building desig-ned by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, Kolumba is synonymous with the aesthetic linking of location, architecture, and the collection. Distinctive architecture frequently poses major challenges for the creators of exhibi-tions: How can the exhibition be presented on a par with a formidable building? The team of curators at Kolumba, which has been developing the new concepts of the former Museum of the Diocese since 1990, and accompanying its new planning from 1997 on, now shows the collection in temporary exhibitions that change annually, has managed this balan-cing act. “Kolumba does many things differently than other museums – and thus, it gets everything right”, praises the art magazine MONOPOL in its September 2008 edition, for example. »The Prize acknowledges the curators’ achievement, whose competence, and care, cleverness and solidity is proven anew with quality in every structural variation. For this reason, Kolumba has developed into one of the leading institutions in dealing with artworks«, states Professor Gottfried Korff, emeritus at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute of the University of Tübingen, whom the jury as-signed the task of selecting the prizewinner. | The Prize of 5,000 Euros is awarded every two years by the hbs Cultural Foundation, singling out curators and exhibition organizers throughout Germany, who have decisi-vely contributed to working on a contemporary exhibition at a museum or exhibition hall. The jury selects a respective specialist, who directly choo-ses the prizewinner. The intention hereby is to tap the individual horizon of experience of known museum experts for this evaluation. The hbs Cul-tural Foundation was founded in 1998 by the couple Dr. Heinz and Brigit-te Schirnig, under the auspices of the trustees of the Lower Saxony Sparkassen Foundation. The Foundation concentrates its means on supporting curators, who realize unusual exhibition plans. (information: www.kulturstiftungen-hbs.de). | The jury of the Museum Prize of the hbs Cultural Foundation: Dr. Judith Oexle, Saxony State Ministry of the Interi-or, Dresden; Dr. Sabine Schormann, Foundation Director, Lower Saxony Sparkasse Foundation, Hannover; Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck, Senator for Culture, Free and Hansa City Hamburg; Dr. Heinz Schirnig, Chairman of the Board, hbs Cultural Foundation, Uelzen | The Prize was awarded on March 5, 2009 in a festive ceremony at Kolumba.

Hanns-Schaefer Prize (2008)
Cologne Association of Home and Property Owners
Award winner: The Archdiocese of Cologne
»There are several prizes for architecture in Germany, even though they are by far not as numerous as literature prizes. But there are hardly any prizes for the building sponsor, although every architect knows that a house can only be as good as the building sponsor allows it to be. There-fore, the Cologne Association of Home and Property Owners, established in 1888, sets a signal in awarding the Hanns-Schaefer Prize this year to a building sponsor, namely to Joachim Cardinal Meisner for the Kolumba Art Museum built by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (F.A.Z. Newspaper of 15 September). The laudatory speech to honor the prizewinner was held by Andreas Rossmann, culture correspondent of this newspaper in Northrhine Westphalia, who took the audience on a travel through time to 2088, when the Association will be celebrating its 200th anniversary, pro-viding a speculative review of Cologne’s city development, which, inspired and departing from Kolumba, will have attained new attention with respect to city planning as a result of a momentous alliance between master builders and their sponsors. “If architecture is treated like this and if the attitude Kolumba has exemplarily demonstrated toward the city rubs off on other builders and wins followers, then soon we will no longer have to worry about the city panorama of Cologne.« (Cardinal Meisner honored as sponsor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 December 2008)

DAM Award for Architecture in Germany| 1st Prize (2008)
Award winners: Peter Zumthor / Archdiocese of Cologne
»Peter Zumthor's art museum of the archbishopric of Cologne is a valid answer to the worldwide trend toward 'architecture spectacle'. The ar-chaeology that is interpreted here as also involving an architectural se-arch for traces of the past, is an archaeology not of the ground but of the spirit, not only of the place, but of its essence.« (Gerhard Matzig, Jury). »Architecture and artworks are melded here in perfect harmony, uncon-ventional yet unspectacular. One wants to come back, again and again.« (Ursula Baus, Jury) »Time is the most important parameter in this building. Enough time. The developer had plenty of time; the architect needed a great deal of time and took full advantage of it.« (Peter Cachola Schmal, Jury).
Brick Award | 1st Prize (2008)
Award winners: Peter Zumthor / Kolumba
The Brick Award, which amounts to a total of 21,000 euros, is given out every two years for outstanding European brick architecture, and is orga-nized by the Wienerberger Company. An international jury of renowned architects and architectural critics judge the submitted projects: »This project which was both remarkable externally and internally was described by one jury member a a 'miracle'. The jury were impressed by the raltions-hip between the antiquities, the surrounding urban fabric and the new building and particularly liked the juxtaposition of the existing stone with the new brickwork with all its imperfections. We liked the original use of Roman brick / tile and the quality of light that was filtered through the brickwok on to the exhibits and the archaeological remains. All in all this is a formidable piece of architecture that is destined to become one of Co-logne's great landmarks as well as an extraordinary visitor experience.« (George Ferguson, Chairman of the Jury, in: brick '08, S.8)