Our Favorite Destinations in Cologne (Part 3): Skulpturenpark

The Skulpturenpark ('sculpture park') is one of our absolute favorites. When we just started dating, Else told Ilse about this park that Ilse didn't know. So, for our second date, Else planned a walk including this park (we wrote about it in another post). 19 months later, we were back for our monthversary, after we had planned to revisit more than once. But we always found other places to explore and somehow kept postponing our visit.

In 1997, the Skulpturenpark opened its first exhibition with contemporary sculptures from all over the world. The exhibitions are usually open for about two years; then, a new exhibition is curated. While most artworks are then removed from the park, others aren't—there are still a few sculptures from the very first and following exhibitions. Recently, the tenth exhibition opened and and you can visit it until 2022.

While some artworks are huge and cannot be missed, others are smaller such as Lonesome George by Ayşe Erkmen, a tiny snail featured for the first time in the current exhibition. Some are interactive, have their own voice, and speak to the visitors like Post hoc by Dane Mitchell, also new to the sculpture park. Others don't seem to be artworks at first glance, e.g., the power pole Power (Powerless) by Nina Canell which can be looked at since the seventh exhibition (2013-2015).

The Skulpturenpark isn't just an art exhibition. It also is a park where you can take a walk, sit next to (and even on! a few) sculptures, and enjoy the day. They even have a restaurant on site. We haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising.

We wish we could show you a few pictures here, but we aren't allowed to publish pictures from the Skulpturenpark. They have all the sculptures (old and current) on their website, though!