COLOGNE.- Fifty years after a landmark gift transformed Cologne’s cultural landscape, the Museum Ludwig is preparing to celebrate its anniversary with a full day of art, music, dance, workshops and free admission on Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Founded in 1976 following the donation of an extraordinary collection by Peter and Irene Ludwig to the city of Cologne, the museum has grown into one of Europe’s most important institutions for modern and contemporary art. Its fiftieth anniversary offers an opportunity not only to celebrate that history, but also to consider how the museum—and the art it collects—has changed over the past half century.
Today, the Museum Ludwig holds the largest collection of American Pop Art outside the United States as well as the world’s third-largest collection of works by Pablo Picasso. Its holdings also encompass major examples of Cubo-Futurism, Suprematism and Constructivism, along with Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Conceptual Art and contemporary artistic practices.
Photography has become another important part of the museum’s identity, contributing to a collection that traces many of the central artistic developments of the twentieth century while continuing to expand its view of more recent art.
The anniversary celebration on September 13 will open the museum to residents of Cologne as well as visitors from farther afield, with admission free throughout the day.
The festivities begin at 11 a.m. with a performance by the ensemble Les Arcanes Baroques, presented in collaboration with the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra. Taking place on the museum’s second floor near the roof terraces, the program will bring Baroque music into conversation with the museum’s contemporary surroundings.
At the same time, children ages seven to ten can participate in a two-hour sound workshop. Places are limited, with tickets available at the museum information desk beginning 30 minutes before the workshop.
The formal birthday moment comes at 2 p.m., when Cologne Mayor Torsten Burmester and Museum Ludwig director Yilmaz Dziewior will cut the museum’s anniversary cake in the entrance hall.
Music will continue throughout the afternoon as musicians from the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra perform at selected locations in the museum between 2 and 4 p.m. The interventions are conceived as encounters between sound, artworks, architecture and visitors rather than as conventional concert performances.
From 2 to 5 p.m., the museum will also offer its Kunst:Dialoge program in the permanent collection, inviting visitors into conversations around individual works of art.
Architecture will take center stage during German-language guided tours at 4 and 5 p.m., offering a closer look at the distinctive building that Museum Ludwig shares with the Cologne Philharmonic. Participation is limited, and tickets will be distributed 30 minutes before each tour.
One of the anniversary day's major performances begins at 5 p.m. in the foyer. Cologne-based choreographer Stephanie Thiersch has created a site-specific version of the internationally presented dance and music work UNTIL THE BEGINNINGS especially for the museum’s fiftieth anniversary.
Developed with performers Nadeya GK (Nadia Gabrieli Kalati), Shelly Quest and Joel Surez Gmez, the work brings movement, architecture and the audience together within the museum itself. UNTIL THE BEGINNINGS is a collaboration with Senegal’s Ecole des Sables and Alesandra Seutin.
Les Arcanes Baroques will return at 6 p.m. for a second performance near the museum’s roof terraces, again exploring the meeting point between Baroque musical traditions and contemporary reflection.
The celebration also coincides with another major Cologne cultural anniversary. Beginning at 1:30 p.m., the neighboring Cologne Philharmonic will mark its own fortieth anniversary with concerts, guided tours, workshops and additional activities in the Philharmonic foyer, Rheingarten Foyer and Heinrich-Bll-Platz.
Together, the two anniversaries turn the area around Heinrich-Bll-Platz into a broader celebration of Cologne’s cultural institutions and the close relationship between visual art, architecture and music.
Museum Ludwig’s anniversary year is being held under the patronage of Hendrik Wst, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and member of the state parliament. Anniversary partners RheinEnergie and the REWE Group are supporting the program, alongside Airport Cologne Bonn and the museum’s Leading Partner, the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation.
Half a century after Peter and Irene Ludwig helped establish the museum, the September celebration returns to the idea at the heart of their gift: making significant works of modern art part of Cologne’s public cultural life. For one day, at least, the birthday party will belong as much to the city and its visitors as to the museum itself.
