Collection

Suermondt-ludwig-museum
WILHELMSTRASSE 18
52070 AACHEN
T +49-241-47980-40

opening hours
Tue – Sun  10:00  – 17:00

closed on mondays

 

Collection

Treasure house of municipal art collections

 

The history of the collection

The history of the museum began in 1877 with the foundation of a museum association. It was Aachen's citizens who contributed works of art to this association, forming the basis for the establishment of a municipal museum. In 1882, the Aachen entrepreneur Barthold Suermondt endowed the museum association with over 100 paintings. One year later, the Suermondt Museum opened in Komphausbadstraße. In 1901, it moved to Wilhelmstraße. Over the years, the municipal collection continued to grow. In this respect, the Aachen industrialists Peter and Irene Ludwig proved to be exceptionally generous, with their more than 300 donations and permanent loans. Today, the Suermondt Ludwig Museum, with its inventory of around 1500 paintings, 700 sculptures, 10,000 prints and drawings and a huge arts and crafts collection, is one of Germany's largest municipal museums. Since 1901, has been housed in the Villa Cassalette, the former city palace of the manufacturer Eduard Cassalette. Designed by the Aachen architect Eduard Linse in Renaissance Revival style, the building was constructed over the period from 1884 to 1888. The building was acquired by the City of Aachen in 1898 to house the Suermondt Museum, which had originally been established in 1883. Even before its opening in 1901, a two-storey tract with skylight halls and a neo-Baroque staircase was added to the rear side of the villa. Further extensions were added at the end of the 1920s. Between 1992 and 1994, an extension was built on the adjacent plot of land.

Highlights

Lucas Cranach the Elder: Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1531
Johann (Jan) Boeckhorst: Fall of the Damned
Master of the Utrecht Female Head of Stone: Saint Dorothea
Lobkowitzer Kaiserpokal

Collections

SCULPTURES 14th – 16th CENTURY
PAINTINGS 15th – 18th CENTURY
PAINTINGS 19th – 20th CENTURY
PRINTS AND DRAWINGS
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

SCHATTENGALERIE

PORTRÄT EINES JUNGEN MANNES
STILLLEBEN
HEILIGE FAMILIE
GEBIRGSLANDSCHAFT IM HERBSTNEBEL
MÄRTYRIUM DES HL. SEBASTIAN
MALER MIT GLIEDERPUPPE IM ATELIER