Kolumba Museum

Description

Cologne was almost completely destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Among the buildings destroyed was the Gothic church of St. Kolumba, of which only fragments of its façade and a Gothic sculpture of the Virgin remained. During the 1950s, a hexagonal church was built to house this sculpture, and in the 1970s some Roman remains were discovered.Peter Zumthor’s project was the winner of the competition to transform the site into a museum of sacred art. The first phase of the project involved the construction of a large box that encompasses and allows a unified interpretation of the ‘palimpsest’ of the different elements that tell us about the history of the place. The material chosen for the new contemporary box was carefully considered by the architect. The light white bricks used dialogue with the old structure of the church, forming trellis patterns through which natural light passes, creating a interior atmosphere that encourages introspection. The different archeological remains are exposed in the old nave of the church, which can be walked through by means of a wooden walkway that allows visitors to learn about the history of the site without damaging it. This large space is supported by slender concrete columns that barely pierce the ground and whose arrangement reinforces the idea of an abstract space whose function is to envelop the space in a very specific sensory atmosphere.On the second floor of the building are the exhibition rooms, connected through a zigzagging path. The exterior envelope opens up here and there, establishing a dialogue with the cityscape and providing subtle lighting that changes according to the needs of each work of art.