The MAKK collections

The MAKK (Museum of Applied Arts Cologne) is the second oldest museum in the city of Cologne and emerged from the Museum of Decorative Arts founded in 1888.

The basis of the collections was formed by the decorative arts holdings transferred from the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in the year it was founded, which were brought together in particular by Ferdinand Franz Wallraf and Matthias de Noël, the first curator of the Wallrafianum. This collection, which was conceived as a universal museum, has developed into a multi-disciplinary museum with 13 overarching collection focuses (which are overseen by three curators including the director). 

This also includes the MAKK's design collection. In comparison to related museums, the MAKK devoted itself to the subject of design very early on: design exhibitions were held as early as the 1920s, design was collected from 1932 and a design collection was systematically established from the 1970s.

In addition to the extraordinarily large donations from Ferdinand Franz Wallraf, Matthias de Noël, Alexander Schnütgen, Karl Thewalt, Ernst Ludwig Zais, Johannes Fastenrath, Wilhelm Clemens, Werner and Juliane Lindgens, Karl and Gertrud Funke-Kaiser, Paul Silverberg, Elisabeth Treskow, Rosy Petrine Sieversen, Alex Henrichs, Richard G. Winkler and the Overstolzengesellschaft, targeted purchases and many smaller private donations have enriched and shaped the content of the collections since the museum was founded.

The main collection focuses of the MAKK are: textiles and fashion, furniture art, jewelry, porcelain, ceramics, glass, metal art, works of art made of bone and ivory, painting, sculpture, design, graphics and posters, and book art.