St. Kolumba, Cologne

St. Kolumba stands in the heart of Cologne, a museum built around the ruins of a medieval parish church. The original Romanesque church dated from 980 and grew into a Gothic hall church with five naves. By the 17th century its interior had been remodelled in Baroque style, and it housed notable artworks such as Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Columba Altarpiece. The church was almost entirely destroyed in 1943, leaving only parts of the walls, tower basement and a Gothic Madonna statue from the 1460s. In 1947 the architect Gottfried Böhm enclosed these remnants in an octagonal chapel topped by a tent-like roof. The chapel became known as the Madonna of the Ruins and was consecrated in 1950. Excavations in the 1970s uncovered earlier church foundations beneath the site. The Swiss architect Peter Zumthor designed a new museum that weaves the chapel and ruins into a single structure. Opened in 2007, Kolumba now displays the archdiocese’s collection within walls that still echo the city’s medieval past.