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6 Museums in Innenstadt-West That You Shouldn't Miss
In 1715, margrave Karl III Wilhelm decided he needed more space than he had in Durlach, so he moved his capital to Karlsruhe and had it designed in circular spokes around his new palace. Because of its unique radial shape, Karlsruhe is sometimes called the “fan city.” Home to Germany’s most important federal courts, the city accordingly teems with civil servants. Karlsruhe Schloss (castle) was badly damaged in World War II, but was rebuilt and is now home to the Badisches Landesmuseum.
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1. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 112 reviews
Discover the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe: A wide panorama of artworks spanning 800 years. The Kunsthalle Karlsruhe was one of the first museum buildings in Germany and is one of the very few to have largely retained its original design.
Reviewed By periandro - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
The Karlsruhe Staatliche Kunsthalle is an important museum in Germany which houses plenty of works of art some of which constitute real masterpieces. Works having stemmed from worldwide famous brushes, such as Canaletto, Rembrant, Kalf and Metsu can be contemplated in that gallery; a real enjoyment producing enrichment on a spiritual level at the sight of so many marvels is therefore assured. The sight of the main façade with its imposing three-arched entrance portal and the three windows above it on the balustrade as well as the pediment is in itself a stunning view. The Kunsthalle can be considered in general as a sublime edifice being therefore fitted for the artistic masterworks it houses tending to immortality. In line with that the spatial impression one gets upon entering the entrance hall is comparable to that one may receive upon entering an Italian gothic cathedral. Besides, the spatial impact of the lower floor is especially ascribable to its impressive height. Notwithstanding that, upon leaving behind the two flights of stairs the upper floor appears as a wide, gently vaulted space with four doors and a high window letting much light penetrate. The origin of the Karlsruhe Staatliche Kunsthalle dates back from the sixteenth century. The original designs were made by the architect Heinrich Hübsch (1795-1863), the first ones dating from the year 1835 upon Grand Duke Leopold Baden's decision to redesign the old academy building and erect the “New Academy Building”. The frescoes in some of the interior walls of the grand duke's Kunsthalle are the work of Moritz von Schwind (1804-1871). The decoration of the stairwell depicts the consecration of Freiburg cathedral by Duke Berthold, the Zähringer, illustrated in life figures. The two outer frescoes illustrate “Imagination” and “Mathematics” as prerequisites for architecture. The main decorative fresco is a magnificent work representing almost seven hundred years of Baden history. All such frescoes are very impressive. The feeling one has at their sight is that of entering a fabulous realm of vibrant culture. The large fields and friezes in the groundfloor bear appropriate historical compositions, such as scenes from the Olympic Games from Iliad. They are fantastic works. At the sight of the “Philostratic Paintings” in the current presentation hall one certainly feels thrilled. The interest for this subject among 19th century artists was due in part to Johan Wolfgang von Goethe's essay “Philostratus's Paintings, Ancient and Moderns”. The set of thirty eight panels is organised in seven thematic areas as per Gorthe's stipulation and images concerning death and mourning. In the third pink-coloured hall one can observe references to two myths about founding of Rome, one of them consists in Aeneas, founder of Rome, disembarking at Cunae and his marriage to Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus. As regards the second founding myth there is the image of a shewolf feeding Romulus and Remus, and another panel illustrates the rape of the Sabine women. A careful observation of those works is indeed recommendable. In the Museum subject matter of this review it's possible to behold superb works of art as far as both painting and sculpture is concerned. Within the first mentioned artistic branch there are manifold masterpieces appertaining to different historical times and styles, from the early German gothic paintings to the divers trends of the twentieth century. In relation to the late gothic paintings one can admire, for instance, a diptych in its original frame made at Emperor Charles V's court in Prague around the middle of the fourteenth century. It shows on the two panels respectively the touching confrontation of the beginning and the end of Christ's life. The left panel depicts Mary with the Child in an unusually intimate posture. The right panel shows Jesus as a “Man of Sorrows” suspended betwixt death and resurrection. “Christ as Man of Sorrows” showing the Saviour with the crown of thorns and the accoutrements of suffering is the approach of the young Albrecht Dürer to the Passion subject. Apart from the passion theme, another important motiv of gothic painting is about depictions of the Virgin Mother and of the life of Mary. An example thereof is the work by the Master of the Lichtenthal's Marian panel. On the front and back the Birth of Mary, the Annunciation, the Visitation and Mary's death are represented. Lucas Cranach the Elder's (1472 – 1553) depiction of the Madonna shows a youthful innocence and beauty. Cranach's small lime wood panel of the “Madonna with Child” is among the most charming works in the Kunsthalle. In relation to secular panel painting belonging to the same epoch as those just mentioned an original and eye catching painting is “Melancholy in the Garden of Life” by Matthias Gerung (1500 – 1568/70). In it, the figure of the lady representing Melancholy appears sitting at the center of a wide world landscape divided in small parcels. The four seasons are represented simultaneously, war and peace coexist and new half-timbered buildings are being constructed next to the collapsing and burning fortifications. As fine examples of baroque and rococo in Germany one can find, among the most prominent representatives of these styles, influenced no doubt by tendencies from Italy, works by Johann König (1586 – 1642), Johann Liss (1597 – 1629/30) and Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1609 – 1682/83). König’s painting “Landscape with Tobias and the Angel” is beautifully executed on a small copper plate. One of the most interesting works in this section is the “Views of Dresden from the Bridgehead of the New Town” by Bernardo Belotto, known as Canaletto (1720 – 1780). In that painting an imposing view of baroque Dresden opens along the Augustus Bridge and over the Elbe. Anton Raphael Mengs (1728 – 1779) had also been court painter in Dresden. His “Portrait of Minister of State Baron Wilhelm von Edelstein” is a marvellous example of his portraiture. As far as Dutch painting in the sixteenth century is concerned, in the Museum in question one may find a number of excellent examples of religious paintings. Apart from that Quentin Massys (c. 1465 – 1530) and Jan Vermeyen (1500 – 1559) painted gentlemen whose identities are unknown. The one portrayed in Vermeyen's painting which is observable in the Kunsthalle looks straight to the viewer making gesture of appeal. Jan Sanders van Hemessen's (c. 1500 – after 1563) “Loose company” is a very special picture. Painted in 1540, it shows a place looking like a brothel As regards the Flemish artist having been active in the 17th century there are four works by Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) in the Kunsthalle. The oldest among them is his portrait of the 22 year old Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria, which was painted while the painter was still in Italy. It's a precious painting in which Veronica Spinola, a Genovese aristocrat , is presented in a monumental scene. Another great Flemish painter such as Jacob Jordaens made a bold composition picture also housed in the Kunsthalle. It’s his “Moses Strikes Water from the Stone”. An outstanding position occupies among the Dutch painters of the 17th century Rembrant Harmenszoon van Rijn's. In the collection of the Museum there is his self-portrait. He looks at the visitors with a melancholy, searching, vulnerable and thoughtful expression. Works by other Dutch painters included in that group are also in the Museum being examined. Some of such artists are Clara Peeters, Pieter Claeszoon and Willem Claeszoon Heda as well as Willem Kalf (1619 – 1693 whose “Still Life with Lemon, Oranges and Filled Römer” (1663 – 1664) shows his brilliant artistic reflection of the world of objects. Items regarding the Dutch genre painting of the 17th century can also be observed in the Kunsthalle. As far as landscape is concerned the painting by Jacob van Ruisdael (1628 – 1682) “Tall Trees by the Water” must be considered as one of the best in that genre out of all those housed in the Kunsthalle. That by Aelbert Cuyp “River Landscapewith Milkmaid” is likewise a beautiful picture. The Museum section concerning 17th to 19th centuries French paintings ranks among the most comprehensive and valuable collections of this kind in Germany. The Kunsthalle today possesses first class works of baroque, rococo, clsssicist and 19th century art. By Frans Pourbus the Yunger (1569 – 1622) two works in that Museum deserve admiration, i.e. that of the 15 year-old Louis XIII (1601 – 1643), son of Henry IV and Maria de Medici, and the portrait of Elizabeth of France. The creative work by Antoine (c. 1588 – 1648), Louis (c. 1593 – 1648), and Matthieu (1607 – 1677) Le Nain “Preparation for the Dance Class” makes those painters be among the most successful ones of their time. François Boucher’s (1703 – 1770) “Shepherd and Shepherdess” shows gender and affectionate emotions. Already in the 19th century, landscape became the main subject of the French progressive painters. As a prelude of that trend one can see in the pertinent section of the Kunsthalle the “Rocky Valley at Cività Castellana” by Camille Carot (1796 – 1875). In 1843744 Eugène Delacroix (1718 – 1863) carried out a wall painting for the church of Saint-Denis du Saint-Sacrement. The work in the Museum concerned was painted in 1857 as a replica of the monumental painting whose expressiveness deeply impressed Charles Baudelaire. Among the 19th century French painters a prominent rank must be acknowledged to the impressionists. In this regard in the Kunsthalle it's possible to admire valuable works by Eduard Manet, Edgard Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, August Renoir, Paul Gaugin, Paul Cézanne. By Pissarro there is in that Museum the nice painting “June Morning on Pantoise” in which he focussed on a swath of land without special topographic qualities. As in all impressionist works, in this picture the beauty of the ordinary is awakened, literally seen in a different light. Still some pictures regarding the German Painting of the 19th century can be beheld in the Kunsthalle. Among the painters concerned one may cite Anton Koch (1768 – 1839) whose “Heroic Landscape with Rainbow” is an excellent example of his striking fictional landscapes in which nature appears immortal. Other works of all those produced within the mentioned period housed in the stated Museum are outstanding and deserve thus a careful observation. Among them maybe “The Disturbance” by Adolf von Menzel (1815 – 1905) is the most striking one. It depicts two ladies sitting at a piano by candlelight enjoying a happy moment of leisurely music which is abruptly interrupted. Just a few 20th century paintings stand out of the rest appertaining to the last century integrated in the Kunsthalle collection. These are the Gino Severini's (1883 – 1966) “Bouquet of Flowers”, the Wassily Kandinsky's “Improvisation 13”, the Max Ernst's “The Forest”, the Otto Dix's “The Seven Deadly Sins” and the Max Beckman's “Evacuation of the Sphinx”. The collection is completed with some prints and drawings and some sculptures ranging from classicism to the present. Among the latter, Max Ernst's “The Bird” and “Kaktusmensch” by Julio González are perhaps the most passable ones. From the foregoing it clearly derives that in the Karlsruhe Kunsthalle some real masterpieces are exhibited. That Museum is by all menas the first place where one should go as soon as possible after the arrival at the stated German city.
2. Naturkundemuseum Karlsruhe
3. City Museum
4. Museum fur Literatur am Oberrhein
5. State Museum of Baden
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 182 reviews
Reviewed By periandro - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
The Badisches Landesmuseum is a fantastic museum in the city of Karlsruhe as well as an important museum in Germany which houses plenty of works of art some of which constitute real masterpieces. The sight of the imposing building main façade is in itself a stunning view. That building used to be the castle of the said city, founded by the margrave Karl-Wilhelm from Baden-Durlach in the hub of the Hardt forest. It constituted his residence and that of the succesive grand dukes who reigned in the Baden State forming the line of descendants of the founder up to the reign of Frederik II during which the palace became the seat of the government. It turned out to a museum after the First World War. It's a magnificent edifice sonsisting of a groundfloor an two storeys in imperial style. It was refitted in such a style under the rule of the grand duke Karl (grandson of Karl-Frederik who, in turn, was the grandson of the founder, Karl-Wilhelm) and his wife Stephanie de Beauharnais. It has also a big octagonal tower in the middle at the back of the edifice, behind the main entrance, topped by a dome also octagonal shaped, and two smaller square towers on each end of the building which, as a whole, it's a crescent-like structure. The façade is splendidly ornamented and contains a marvellous pediment in the middle in front of the largest tower, the carved shield in it being outstanding. Before the roof there is a very artistic balustrade with statues on each side of the aforesaid pediment. Everything is thus of a great beauty. The visit to that Museum is a very good way to learn about the culture and art history of Baden-Würtenberg. Items ranging from the Paleolitical to the contemporary world are there exhibited. It's amazing to observe, in a global panorama of culture history, objects calling up art, regional history, floklore and everyday civilization, that museum tending therefore to propose a more global conception of history of culture and human sciences. It's really great. The portrait of the founder, margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach, most probably painted in Johann Kisling's workshop, ca. 1775, can be seen in that Museum. Likewise marvellous objects dating from the time when that margrave was in power, which were then used in the palace, can be there admired, such as a set of silver baptism elements, a breakfast set made of porcelain whose white of the paste and the good quality of the material are outstanding, a marvellous gilded bronze clock chiming pendulum in early neoclassical style ornamented with personifications of the four seasons. In addition, there are in the same section (The Karlsruhe Castle and Court) some valuable and beautiful objects appertaining to other time, such as an imposing Sèvres porcelain vase, dating from the first quarter of the nineteenth century, with the image of the princess Louise of Baden in her childhood, and a formidable deed-box for greeting cards on whose front the head of the Grand Duke, Frederik I of Baden, is depicted. Furthermore, the gallery of the Dukes of Baden roughly recalls the relevant regional history. Dating back to the XVI century the art and curiosities room includes the oldest works of the Duke collections. There one can see the coloured wax statue of the Margravine Sibylle-Augustine of Baden and her two children by Anna-Maria Braun; a goblet with reliefs of planets and of Lucrecia. The reliefs are very delicately elaborated and the planets there represented symbolise the week days. It's a very nice work made of tender wood. Likewise a small monument representing the rape of a Sabine is a true marvel. It's made of several materials, among which ivory, wood, silver leaves, glass and brass leaf. Some Greek and Roman coins as well as medals are there exhibited. Among the medals, one made by Hans Schwarz, bears the effigy of Albrecht Dürer. It's an interesting one which was made in Nürenberg at the end of the fifteenth century or the beginning of the sixteenth. The Baden Margrave's weapon collection integrates nowadays the most ancient units appertaining to the ducal collection. It's worth observing the great artistic value of some of such weapons owing to the valuable materials of which they were made, such as veined wood and slightly blued iron, as well as their technical perfection. The Turkis buty (Türkenbeute) is an excellent collection even in comparison to other equivalent musem collection. It consists of a marvellous stock linked to a first class historical personnage, the Margrave Ludwig-Wilhelm of Baden-Baden whose image can be contemplated in a fabulous painting by an unknown author made in the 17th century. Apart from that, many other interesting items are exhibited in that section. Among them, the silver victory medal by Philipp Heinrich Müller, commemorative of the Margrave's victory over the Turkish army in 1691; a horse-cloth and saddle in ottoman style from the second half of the 17th century, made of silk, leather, metal threads embroidering, silver and gilded motives, and a quiver for bow and arrow also in ottoman style. Other sections of the Museum are, for instance, that dedicated to pre- and protohistorical collections consisting of remains found on the territory which used to be that of Baden. It's amazing to see such remains ranging from the Neandertal age to the first Germans. Among those remains the decorated vases ought to be outlined. They reveal the development of a first agricultural farming having been called the stripped ceramic farming due to the typical ornamentation of its vases. Many works appertaining to the Greek civilisation of the classical period are exhibited in that Museum. Into that civilisation flow the remarkable developments of previous great civilisations which had a glory height during the 3000 year period before Christ in the Middle East and Egypt. One can there feel an undeniable admiration for the beauty of the nearly abstract forms of the Cyclades, the precious ivory and bronze works of manifold personnages, of the ancient East, life alongside the Nile, in the way the ancient Egyptians represented it in their mausolea. The grand female idol made of marble from Cyclades is outstanding; but in fact all the works contained in that section are real marvels worth being observed carefully, particularly the Aphrodite statuette from Minor Asia dating back to the end of the second century before Christ. In addition to the aforesaid sections, there are others dedicated to the following themes: Etruscan, Italics, Rome and Byzantium; the Romans in the Upper Rhin; the Middle Ages, and others arranged in pursuance of the successive historical periods. In that cncerning the low Middle Ages, for instance, there is a large number of Pietàs, each one of them conceived in accordance with different criteria. That Michael Erhardt elaborated in Ulm ca. 1500 shows a new type of Pietà in which the Virgin is knelt down on the floor supporting Christ's bust on her right leg erect. It's an extraordinary sculpture in which Mary may give way to all the compassion she feels for her son and present his miraculous wounds to the believers. In addition to that sculpture and similar ones, also in this section the Mary Altar of Salem is a gorgeous masterpiece. It was carried out by Bernhard Strigel at the beginning of the sixteenth century and the materials used are coniferous wood, linden-tree wood and tempera painting. The outer sides of the wings show the scenes of the Annunciation and the Visitation, and on the predella the placing of Mary in the tomb is depicted. The retable contains a carved and gilded scene representing the Virgin Mary and the twelve apostles. The contemplation of the altarpiece concerned is a dazzling one especially as far as the two remarkable inner volets are concerned. In that on the left, depicting Christ's birth, a light coming from the Child and illuminating specific parts of an imaginative space stands out. At the sight of such composite artwork sensitive people can't have but a thrill ascribable to its extreme beauty and charm. Among the artwork ranging from the sixteenth to the end of the twentieth century exhibited in that Museum there are also very nice items worth being attentively beheld. The most eye-catching ones are perhaps the ivory sculptures called “Three women” by Leonhardt Kern dating back to ca. 1640, and “Perseus and Andromeda” by Adam Lenckhardt made in 1643. The Badisches Landesmuseum is therefore a spectacular place where to go while in Karlsruhe in order to have an undescribably great moment enjoying at the sight of the marvels it harbours. In order to get a good insight of the whole the visit shouldn't last less than five or six hours. For obvious reasons that will most probably make one wish to go to that Museum again.
6. Museum beim Markt
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 10 reviews
Reviewed By Thidwick11
Best collection of art nouveau glass I've ever seen, and that includes the massive collection at the Musee D'orsay in Paris. The museum is beautifully curated. Small, precise, and filled with quality surprises. Loved it!
