Two interesting museum buildings with exciting artistic and cultural-historical content can be discovered in Düren. The collection of the Leopold Hoesch Museum, for example, includes important works of classical modernism and expressionism alongside graphic and cultural-historical holdings. The neighboring Düren Paper Museum builds on the special significance that paper has had for the city and the region for centuries.
Founded back in 1905, the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren, which was expanded in 2010 to include a new building by Peter Kulka, has an extraordinary collection of art in the fields of classical modernism and expressionism as well as post-war modernist constructivist art. As part of collection presentations, visitors can see representative works by artists such as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Marianne von Werefkin, Alexej von Jawlensky, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker. The museum works closely with the two resident foundations, the Günther Peill Foundation and the Hubertus Schoeller Foundation. In changing special exhibitions, the Leopold Hoesch Museum devotes itself to important positions in international contemporary art and cultural-theoretical themes.
The process of raw material extraction
A mixture of urban, industrial and cultural history awaits visitors right next door at the Düren Paper Museum, which was attached to the Leopold Hoesch Museum when it was founded in 1990 and reopened in 2018 following a comprehensive redesign and fundamental architectural expansion. The fascinating process of raw material extraction, paper production and recycling is made visible in the exhibition. During the tour, visitors learn interesting facts about the history, development and use of paper as a material. Its production and processing has a centuries-old tradition in the region around Düren and, with its innovative potential, contributes significantly to the economic and cultural orientation of the location.
Lectures and guided tours
Both museums offer regular lecture and film programs as well as individual guided tours and educational formats. In cooperation with local educational institutions, workshops and courses are also organized in which the contents of both houses are discussed both in theory and in practical application. For example, you are invited to ask yourself whether the modern communication society can really do without paper.
Art experience in the paper city of Düren
During a guided tour of the town, you will learn exciting details about Düren's 400-year history as a paper town. Dates at www.dueren-tourismus.info.
- In Düren, on the northern edge of the Eifel, fine paper is still produced for the whole world today.
- On a guided tour of the town, you will learn exciting details about Düren's 400-year history as a paper town. Dates at www.dueren-tourismus.info.
- After lunch in a typical restaurant or bistro in the city center, you will encounter almost all the well-known representatives of classical modernism and expressionism in the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren.
- The neighboring Paper Museum, newly opened in 2018, is one of the most exciting museums of its kind in Europe.
Excursion tip: As a souvenir of your visit to Düren, you can choose between books, posters, stationery, postcards and many other paper products in the museum store of the Paper Museum.
Gastronomic tip: If you like traditional food, you should stop by the Brauhaus Alt Düren after your visit to the museum. We also recommend Breuers Häuschen, Düren's oldest inn.
Overnight tip: Rotes Einhorn Düren, alternatively: Neues Dorint-Hotel in Düren .
