Münster Art & Culture

The sculpture city of Münster is an important cultural location in Germany and rich in museums and sights. Unique exhibitions and collections make the heart of all art and culture lovers beat faster. A vibrant young cultural scene rounds off the wide range of offerings. And Münster has also made a name for itself as a film city beyond the state’s borders.

Münster’s museum landscape alone, with more than 30 museums, offers visitors an exciting variety, ranging from the city’s history to the graphic works of Pablo Picasso to the Horse Museum or the Bible Museum.

With the renowned exhibition Skulptur Projekte Münster, the city attracts the attention of the global art world every 10 years. In summer 2017, Münster was the venue for the fifth time and numerous international artists were guests to present their works. Many of these works of art on display during the exhibition over the years are now part of the everyday cityscape.

LWL Museum for Art and Culture

The LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster is one of the largest museums of art and cultural history in North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses over 350,000 paintings, prints, sculptures, furniture, coins, arts and crafts, posters and maps. The museum’s holdings include works ranging from the medieval sacred art of Westphalia to works of art from the Renaissance, the Baroque and the 19th century, as well as works of international modernism and contemporary art.

Pablo Picasso Museum of Art

The Pablo Picasso Museum of Art Münster is Germany’s only Picasso museum. Located in Picasso Square, the museum houses the world’s most extensive collection of Pablo Picasso’s lithographs, as well as other Picasso works in various artistic techniques and from different creative periods. The museum also houses collections by the artists Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró and Henri Matisse.

City Museum Münster

The Münster City Museum stands for the history of the city of Münster from its beginnings to the present day. The core of the museum is the display collection on the first and first floors, which offers an overview of Münster’s city history. Special themes and aspects of Münster’s cultural and art history are presented to visitors in numerous changing special exhibitions.

Theatre

The Theatre of the City of Münster is the largest and most traditional cultural institution in the city. With its extensive range of five sections – music theatre, drama, dance theatre, concert and young theatre – Münster Theatre offers a diverse programme for every taste and age.

Halle Münsterland

The Messe und Congress Centrum Halle Münsterland is the region’s event centre. It offers rooms for 40-10000 people for congresses, trade fairs and events and concerts. 20,000 sqm of halls and 10,000 sqm of open-air grounds are available for this purpose. It is centrally located, only a 15-minute walk to the city centre.

Wolfgang Borchert Theatre

The Wolfgang Borchert Theatre is one of the oldest private theatres in Germany. It has been housed in the Flechtheimspeicher on the opposite side of the harbour since autumn 2014. With 146 seats, barrier-free access, new technology and a spacious foyer with catering, the Wolfgang Borchert Theatre meets the most modern standards. The theatre itself is located in the Rhenusspeicher. The foyer is housed in the Flechtheimspeicher, which is now a listed building.

Museum of Lacquer Art

The Musseum for Lacquer Art displays a unique collection of lacquer art from East Asia, Europe and the Islamic world with objects spanning more than two millennia. Both traditional and contemporary aspects of lacquer art are explored in depth through regular special exhibitions.

Sankt Lamberti

St. Lamberti is the central city and market church in Münster and at the same time one of the most important sacred buildings of the Westphalian late Gothic period. For more than 600 years, the horn has been blown from the bell tower of St. Lamberti’s Church in the evening by a turret. Since 2014, Martje Saljé has been the first woman to serve as tower keeper up there. The interior decoration and the two organs are also very important.

Burg Hülshoff

Hülshoff moated castle is nestled in the Münsterland landscape about 10 km west of Münster. The picturesque moated castle is the birthplace of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797-1848). She also spent her childhood and youth here. The rooms of the castle house the Droste Museum, which shows the history of Hülshoff Castle and the life of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff.

LWL Museum of Natural History

The LWL Museum of Natural History is the only natural history museum in Germany with a large planetarium. Covering an area of 4,200 square metres, the museum houses unique objects such as the world’s largest ammonite, unique fossils of fish and swimming dinosaurs, lifelike models of dinosaurs or a life-size mammoth.

Sculpture City

Since its start in 1977, the Skulptur Projekte Münster have developed into one of the world’s most important exhibitions of art in public space. The exhibition invites artists from all over the world to present their works in the city every ten years. Many of the works on display remained in Münster and shape the cityscape of the sculpture city on a daily basis.

Open-Air Museum Mühlenhof

The museum area of the Mühlenhof, located directly on the Aasee, shows more than 30 original buildings from the last 400 years. Farmhouses furnished with appropriate fixtures and fittings are just as much a part of it as workshops of rural craftsmen, a one-class country school from the 19th century or an old village shop. In this way, the museum vividly conveys how people used to live, live and work in the rural surroundings of the city of Münster.

The tips mentioned here are only a small excerpt of what Münster has to offer in terms of art and culture. Further interesting information on Münster’s art and culture can be found, among other places, on the website of Münster Marketing.

An interesting list with information on all museums in Münster can be found on the website Museen in Münster. Information and dates for exhibitions in and around Münster can be found, among other places, on the website kunst raum münster or on the pages of Münster Marketing.