Cologne (Germany) - Neuss - Zons 14-/15/16-08-09

Half August we visited Cologne, an old city in Germany, famous for its great Dom church. Although we had plenty of time in Cologne to wander around and have a look in the old city, our main goal for our visit was actually a city nearby Cologne called Neuss. Close to Neuss the museum Langen Foundation has been built by the Japanese architect Tadeo Ando, whose buildings we both admire. When you approach the museum only one conclusion is possible. The style of his buildings is very recognizable and I am always surprised by the way he uses space and light in his creations.

In the city of Cologne we made a walk through the old harbor (Rheinauhafen). From the old harbor nothing old is left anymore. A new project is to be finished by creating new offices and houses. Anything is done to let it still have the look as a harbor and the so called crane houses were designed.

Sunday we finalized our visit to Cologne by seeing the castle gardens of Augustburg at Brühl, the botanical garden in Cologne and we had a very quick look at the museum of east Asian art (architect: Kunio Mayekawa which has a very small but nice Japanese garden (architect: Masayuki Nagare).

You can find more info. about the Tadeo Ando museum on www.langenfoundation.de/index.php?id=110&L=0 ; go then to
- Langen Foundation
- Architecture
- guidance (Rundgang)
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside. We did not see the crowd and dinner party you see at the end of the video; actually we didn't see hardly any people, which is understandable, since the museum is situated quite remote.

Interesting was the nearby Museum Island Hombroich, both with the Raketenstation Langen Foundation part of the Hombroich Cultural Environment: the development of the Hombroich Cultural Environment, which has its roots in the Hombroich Museum Island established 20 years ago. The starting-point for all these developments was an extensive collection of fine art and a 'forgotten place' in North-Rhine/Westphalia situated close to Düsseldorf, where a special synthesis of art, architecture and natural surroundings was able to emerge. In 1994, the Raketenstation close by also became a part of the Hombroich Island and thus documents spatially the extension to a Cultural Environment.
The buildings, hangars, earthen walls and observation tower on the grounds covering roughly 13 hectares were renovated and redesigned. New buildings by Erwin Heerich, Oliver Kruse and Katsuhito Nishikawa supplemented the existing ensemble along with sculptures by Heinz Baumüller and Eduardo Chillida.

Very pleasant to walk around on this Museum Island with the beautiful weather we had.
Very strange was the fact that around the Langen Foundation there were also some artistic buildings, deserted and nobody around to give whatever explanation.