The oldest Museum in Cologne is the Museum of the Walraff-Richartz located 400 metres from the Cathedral. The first mention of the building dates back to 1824, the Museum was formed, which served as a Testament of Ferdinand and Haymarket, the University rector and Canon of Cologne. He provided the city with all its numerous collection, which included various Church things subjected to confiscation as a result of secularization. Only three years later the collection is partly available to the General public.

Museum Walraff-Richartz has a rich history going back almost two centuries, for all time of its existence, he had to change four buildings. The last cube building which was opened in 2001, the construction work of the architect Oswald Unger. The Museum includes a 3, 5 thousand square meters dedicated to the exhibition halls, it houses paintings and drawings, ranging from the middle Ages. 2001 brought the Museum a priceless Deposit: a collector from Switzerland Gerard Corbu gave his collection of impressionist paintings.

Among the collections of the XIII-XVI centuries, you can see a collection of works Walla, who took possession of the altars in the churches and monasteries subjected to secularization. The most famous exhibits are the works of Stefan Lochner, as well as Albrecht dürer and the masters of the Cologne school. Exhibition of art of the XVI-XVII centuries is exhibited mainly by the paintings of françois Boucher, Peter Rubens and other students of the Dutch school.

The number of exhibits in the collection of drawing reaches 75 thousand, you can see a variety of miniatures, executed on parchment, as well as sketches and drawings, which cover the period from the Middle ages to the twentieth century.