Kunsthalle St. Annen

In the location's words:

Mighty octagonal pillars, arches and arched niches and the surrounding brick walls

- this is all that remains of the church of St. Anne's Monastery to this day. It was destroyed by fire in 1843, as were parts of St. Anne's Monastery, which was used as a poorhouse, workhouse and penitentiary at the time. The monastery building was rebuilt, but the church remained a ruin. Large parts were demolished in 1875. The historical remains are now part of the impressive St. Annen Art Gallery, which was built in 2003 on the ground plan of the church.

The Possehl Foundation donated it to the Hanseatic city. After several attempts in the last century, Lübeck finally had modern rooms of the highest technical and aesthetic standard for the exhibition of modern art. The permanent collection of art with a focus on the period after 1945 has thus found a highly sophisticated venue in Lübeck. The Kunsthalle also hosts changing exhibitions of mainly contemporary art. The building itself is a work of art.

For its architecture, for which the architects Ingo Siegmund and Georg Konermann-Dall were responsible, the Kunsthalle St. Annen was awarded the main prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Association of German Architects in the year of its completion. One reason: the wonderfully successful synthesis of old and new. The memory of the church that was destroyed 150 years ago is kept alive in a moving way, history is not denied but integrated. The new building exists within the old walls and yet is not historicizing, but on the contrary is self-confidently modern - a commitment to contemporaneity and the past at the same time.

The Kunsthalle is a unique building, perfect in its successful design language. The building, which appears unstructured and monolithic from the outside, offers around 1000 square meters of exhibition space - inside, the walk through the differently dimensioned rooms on four levels is an exciting spatial experience. Simple exposed concrete reinterprets the historic church interior, rather than reconstructing it.

Old brickwork in the apse and the church's continued floor plan on the upper floors preserve the sacred aura. There is also space in the new rooms - and former side aisles - for a beautiful art café and a well-stocked art store.
The summer foyer, the open inner courtyard, is a communicative place that invites visitors to linger. The entrance to it is formed by the preserved church portal, on either side of which the pair of figures "Adam" and "Eve" by Lothar Fischer greet art pilgrims.

01.01. - 31.03.
Dienstag - Sonntag
11:00 - 17:00 Uhr

01.04. - 31.12.
Dienstag - Sonntag
10:00 - 17:00 Uhr

Geschlossen: 24.12. | 25.12. | 31.12. | 01.01.