Diözesanmuseum Paderborn

The Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum stands beside Paderborn’s cathedral in the old episcopal quarter. Founded in 1853, it is Germany’s oldest diocesan museum and holds one of the country’s largest collections of Christian art. More than twelve thousand works from the past thousand years are kept here, with strong holdings in Romanesque sculpture and goldsmithing up to the Baroque period. The museum’s story began as a rescue mission for endangered church treasures. Alois Fuchs guided its rebuilding in the early 20th century and shaped a collection that later won international recognition. A new building by Gottfried Böhm opened in 1975, though its glass walls caused climate problems. After a conversion by Michael Brawne, the museum reopened in 1993 and now hosts major loan exhibitions that draw visitors from across Europe. Inside, the permanent displays include the Imad Madonna of 1051–58, one of the oldest large-scale enthroned Madonnas in western art. The treasury holds medieval reliquaries such as the silver-gilt Liborius shrine of 1627. Temporary shows like the 2017 display on Roman wonders brought more than sixty-five thousand visitors and continue to bring new works into dialogue with the collection.