Herford, Bielefeld, Osnabrück
Few people from outside the Westfalia region go to Herford - Bielefeld - Osnabrück for city cultural tourism. We show some very enjoyable architecture that make a regional city trip worth the effort. Bielefeld is the largest city in the region, with about 333.000 people. Nearby Herford - 16 km. from Bielefeld - is smaller with about 65.000 inhabitants. From Bielefeld to Herford is a nice bicycle ride. Herford is one of the Hanseatic cities, with hanseatic charm. Osnabrück is at 60 km. from Bielefeld, has about 165.000 inhabitants and a nice old city that attracts visitors. The focus of our trip on this route was three cultural buildings with modern architectures.
Marta Herford
The Marta Herford is a really surprising place: who expects in a small town a museum designed by Frank Gehry, who was at the time of the opening of Marta (2005) already well-known for his Guggenheim Bilbao design, and had done some large projects in Germany. Frank Gehry designed buildings are playful, different, and enjoyable. So is the Marta Herford.
Marta is an exhibition space for art, design and architecture. Marta contains exhibition spaces, an atelier, seminar rooms and offices. It is located along the small river Aa. The museum cafe's terrace is a peaceful place to have a coffee.
The building and its surroundings are a small visual spectacle and just sitting on a bench across the street and watching the place is already a joyful experience. The entrance and main hall give warm feelings due to the use of the red wood and red bricks. Moving around in the museum is easy, it is not very big. There is information on construction details and this gives an idea what was needed to develop this building. The museum attracts visitors of course, but there are no crowds - people have to go to the small city of Herford to visit the place.
Link: marta-herford.de
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Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Kunsthalle Bielefeld is an architectural monument. Bielefeld is a city with headquarters of some big industries and the Kunsthalle was financed with a grant from the Dr. Oetker food company. The shape of the art hall is cubic and it has a square ground level. Its five storeys (two below ground) have an exhibition space of 1,200 sq. m. The facade is of red sandstone. In front is a sculpture park. Kuntshalle Bielefeld was opened in 1968 and was refurbished in 2002. It will be refurbished again 2025 onwards. Kunsthalle states that the past controversies (about the naming and about the architect) will be discussed again
For the visitor, perhaps the nicest element of the architecture is the connection between outside and inside. Big windows on the North side of the museum with a view of the city sculpture park. The open space with the stairs gives a feeling of connection with the building.
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Osnabrück - Felix-Nussbaum-Haus
The Felix-Nussbaum-Haus is a socio-political museum with the work of Osnabrück painter Felix Nussbaum, who deals in his paintings with themes of war, identity, and Holocaust, and who was murdered in 1994 in Auschwitz. Felix-Nussbaum-Haus is integrated into the museum quarter, with the Museum of Cultural History, the Akize Haus (a free entry cultural place for readings, concerts, lectures, presentations and small exhibitions), and the Villa, a former Nazi local headquarter which has been turned into a place of learning against racism and exclusion.
One of the pictures below (source: Google Maps) shows the Museum Quarter with its four places. The modern place is Felix-Nussbaum-Haus, designed by the well-known architect Daniel Liebeskind - who designed the new World Trade Center in New York, and in Germany for example the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Military History Museum in Dresden. So, Marta in Herford and Felix-Nussbaum-Haus in Osnabrück have been designed by signature architects ('starchitects' as they are sometimes a called in an often negative sense).
The museum building is a bit hidden, and the visitor sees how old and new have been connected. The museum is less visible, but the museum quarter invites visitors to discover how the architecture is done in the museum quarter. The interior of Felix-Nussbaum museum is beautiful and supports the presentation of the paintings and other art in the temporary exhibitions.
Link: www.museumsquartier-osnabrueck.de/
Book: A. Cobbers (2017) Daniel Libeskind in Deutschland / in Germany. Jaron Verlag (English and German texts).
