The new structure Peter Zumthor built for the museum now shares its site with the ruins of the Gothic church and the 1950s chapel, wrapping a perforated grey brick facade like a cloak around both, the museum and old church.[4] The sixteen exhibition rooms possess varying qualities with regard to incoming daylight, size, proportion, and pathways. The work on the project yielded the following reduction: light gray brick walls (Kolumba stones) and clay plaster, flooring made of Jura limestone, terrazzo, and mortar, ceilings made of a poured mortar shell, window frames, doors, casings and fittings of steel, wall paneling and furniture of wood, textiles and leather, curtains of leather and silk.[5]
The collection includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, decorative art and religious icons from Late Antiquity to the present.[6] Apart from a few works on permanent display, the presentation features a regularly changing selection of the museum's holdings. The items are generally displayed without accompanying text, and in no particular chronological or stylistic order.[1][3]
Highlights include:
The Hermann Ida Cross, an 11th-century processional cross made of gilded bronze.
A 12th-century ivory crucifix in romanesque Rhenish or Mosan style.
2008: Brick Award for contemporary European brick architecture from Wienerberger.[9]
2008: Energy-Efficient Architecture in Germany Prize (third class) from the Wüstenrot Foundation.[10]
2008: Praemium Imperiale (category: architecture) from the Japan Art Association, awarded to Zumthor.[11]
2009: Museum Prize for Curators and Exhibition Hosts from the Kulturstiftung hbs.[12]
2010: Cologne Architecture Prize from the Association of the Cologne Architecture Prize.[13]
2011: Architecture Prize North Rhine-Westphalia from the Association of German Architects - Regional Association North Rhine-Westphalia (BDA-Landesverband NRW).[14]
