KOLUMBA MUSEUM, arch. Peter Zumthor, Germany


The Kolumba (previously Diözesanmuseum, "Diocesan Museum") is an art museum in Cologne, Germany. It is located on the site of the former St. Columba church, and run by the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is one of the oldest museums in the city and was founded by the Society for Christian Art in 1853, and taken over by the Archdiocese of Cologne in 1989. The site of its new home (built from 2003-2007, architect Peter Zumthor) was originally occupied by the romanesque Church of St. Columba, which was destroyed in World War II and replaced in 1950 by a Gottfried Böhm chapel nicknamed the "Madonna of the Ruins"