Kolumba
Kolumbastraße 4
D-50667 Köln
tel +49 (0)221 9331930
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Joachim M. Plotzek (born in 1943)
Art Historian
Museum director 1990 – 2008

Born in 1943 in Dattenfeld on the Sieg River. From 1962 to 1969, he studied art history in Bonn, Cologne, and Vienna. In 1969, he submitted his dissertation on the Echternach Lectionary of Heinrich III. From 1969-1990, he was curator at the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne. He collaborated on major Cologne exhibitions, in which medieval culture was systematically presented to the public: Rhine and Maas (1972), Monumenta Annonis (1975) The Parlers (1978), Ornamenta Ecclesiae (1985); from 1977 to 1985, he worked on manuscripts in the Ludwig Collection in Cologne and at the Getty Center in Malibu, California (with Anton von Euw). From 1990 until April 2008, he was Director of the Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese; he was the Founding Director of Kolumba - Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Together with the team he had put together by 1991 (Katharina Winnekes, Stefan Kraus, Ulrike Surmann), he developed a concept for, and compiled a collection of, contemporary art under the auspices of the Church. He was responsible for a sizable expansion of the museum collection with distinctive major works of medieval and contemporary art, partially in the form of gifts (Donation of Regina and Maria Härle) as well as with the support of public and private patrons (Romanesque ivory crucifix, Gothic reliquary crosses, the »Ammunition box« by Joseph Beuys); Areas of collecting were expanded (for example, with the Collection of Works and Forms in the Donation Werner Schriefers); numerous exhibitions, in which old and more recent art were confronted with one another so that they complemented and commented upon each other. For his longtime museum activities, above all for the realization of his vision of a »Museum of Contemplation«, Joachim M. Plotzek received the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Federal Order of Merit), which was awarded to him in the Hanseatic Hall of the historical City Hall by Cologne Lord Mayor Jürgen Roters.
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KOLUMBA :: Museums-History :: Joachim M. Plotzek

Joachim M. Plotzek (born in 1943)
Art Historian
Museum director 1990 – 2008

Born in 1943 in Dattenfeld on the Sieg River. From 1962 to 1969, he studied art history in Bonn, Cologne, and Vienna. In 1969, he submitted his dissertation on the Echternach Lectionary of Heinrich III. From 1969-1990, he was curator at the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne. He collaborated on major Cologne exhibitions, in which medieval culture was systematically presented to the public: Rhine and Maas (1972), Monumenta Annonis (1975) The Parlers (1978), Ornamenta Ecclesiae (1985); from 1977 to 1985, he worked on manuscripts in the Ludwig Collection in Cologne and at the Getty Center in Malibu, California (with Anton von Euw). From 1990 until April 2008, he was Director of the Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese; he was the Founding Director of Kolumba - Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Together with the team he had put together by 1991 (Katharina Winnekes, Stefan Kraus, Ulrike Surmann), he developed a concept for, and compiled a collection of, contemporary art under the auspices of the Church. He was responsible for a sizable expansion of the museum collection with distinctive major works of medieval and contemporary art, partially in the form of gifts (Donation of Regina and Maria Härle) as well as with the support of public and private patrons (Romanesque ivory crucifix, Gothic reliquary crosses, the »Ammunition box« by Joseph Beuys); Areas of collecting were expanded (for example, with the Collection of Works and Forms in the Donation Werner Schriefers); numerous exhibitions, in which old and more recent art were confronted with one another so that they complemented and commented upon each other. For his longtime museum activities, above all for the realization of his vision of a »Museum of Contemplation«, Joachim M. Plotzek received the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Federal Order of Merit), which was awarded to him in the Hanseatic Hall of the historical City Hall by Cologne Lord Mayor Jürgen Roters.