Internationaler Museumstag im Museum Schnütgen

In the organizer's words:

International Museum Day 2026 at Cologne's Museum Schnütgen under this year's motto "Museums uniting a divided world"

Free admission, open from 10 am to 6 pm

• 11am-12pm: Curator's guided tour: "Light in dark times" with Dr. Carola Hagnau

Experience a precious selection of stained glass from the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv, which is being shown outside Ukraine for the first time. In dialog with stained glass from the Schnütgen Museum, they are staged in the stained glass hall. The reason for the exhibition is the impending loss of many works of art due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which began in 2022.

• 13.30-16.30 Join in: Window paintings (for children) with Corinna Fehrenbach - in the garden or in the museum's garden room, depending on the weather
• 13.30-14.30: Kolekcja Muzeum Schnütgen zwitrażamiwystawy specjalnej "Światłow czasach mroku". (Polish language) with Lycina Giesen

• 14.30-15.30 Guided tour: Light in dark times (German language) with the volunteer working group for guided tours at Museum Schnütgen
  The Khanenko Museum in Kyiv, whose beginnings date back to around the same time that Alexander Schnütgen was building up his collection of medieval art in Cologne, was damaged in the first year of the war by a rocket hit in the immediate vicinity. Many works of art were saved just in time, including the high-caliber stained glass collection, which is particularly vulnerable to shocks.
  In December 2024, the stained glass from Kyiv arrived safely in Cologne after being transported through the war zone.
  
• 15.30-16.45 Reading: Little City of Light (children aged 5 and over) with Karina Castellini and LeseWelten
• 16.30-17.30: Light in dark times (Ukrainian language)
• 16.30-17.30: Curator's guided tour "Time to say goodbye: Faith with humor" with Dr. Karen Straub

Last opportunity to visit the exhibition, as it ends on International Museum Day. Book decoration on every single page: the Schnütgen Museum has made a special new acquisition with this precious manuscript from around 1300. It is a magnificent example of French Gothic book illumination. Until the French Revolution, the manuscript was in the Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Martin in Laon, then in the collection of the Dukes of Arenberg and in various private collections. It is now being made accessible to the public for the first time and shown in a special presentation.