Wallraf-Richartz-Museum - Fondation Corboud

City of Cologne - Department of Art and Culture

For the City of Cologne, provenance research in the eight municipal museums is one of its central tasks. It is committed to the Washington Conference of 1998 as well as the declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal states and the central municipal associations "on the restitution of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially from Jewish ownership". In addition to processing specific restitution applications, it has been endeavouring for almost 15 years to examine the holdings of municipal museums for art and cultural objects seized as a result of Nazi persecution. Thanks to a research project financed by the Sal. Oppenheim Foundation, it was possible to research the paintings acquired between 1933 and 1945 in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud from May 2000 to March 2003. This was followed, with the support of the Provenance Research Unit, by the investigation of the paintings and sculptures of the Haubrich Collection in the Museum Ludwig from 2010 to 2012, and currently of the holdings of the Prints and Drawings Collection of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud.

Beyond these temporary projects, a central office for provenance research was established in 2007 in the Department of Art and Culture, which examines the collections in Cologne together with referents in the individual museums. The department for provenance research is available as a central point of contact for questions, tips, and so on.