Welcome to "Burg Wissem"
castle!
Dear visitor!
The picture book museum Burg Wissem in Troisdorf offers
a broad collection of picturebook illustrations, old and modern picture
books and artist books.
Situated between Cologne and Bonn it's the only museum in Europe collecting
and regularly exhibiting picture book art for children and adults.
The museum was established in 1982, taking over the "Foundation Wilhelm
Alsleben". Mr. Alsleben - businessman, collector and citizen of Troisdorf
- assigned around 300 drawings for picture books, litho stones and other
printing plates, and some thousand books to the new museum.
In the following years the collection was systematically enlarged by acquisitions
and donations. Today we can present extensive and manifold collections
in a series of attractive exhibitions.
The
castle "Burg Wissem"
The castle Burg Wissem has been erected between 1500 and
1850. Up to today the castle is partially surrounded by a moat. The manor
house was built around 1840 in classicistic style, probably using old
building material. Painted bright red, the house is flanked by two towers.
In 1939 it became property of the City of Troisdorf and was used as a
town-hall between 1945 und 1981.
Since 1982 Burg Wissem is the home of the picture book museum.
The "Remise"
In direct vicinity of the "new" manor house we can see the
so-called "Remise" or coach-house.
A
long rectangular building with two floors, erected around 1550. On the
front of the building we can see the coat of arms of the former owners
Kaspar von Zweifel and his wife Elisabeth von Lützerode. Originally the
manor house, in later times it became the coach-house.
In 1992 the "Remise" has been reconstructed and is now part of the museum,
but is also used for concerts and other cultural events. Manor house and
coach-house are connected by a copy of the "Lenin platform", designed
by El Lissitzky in the 1920s.
The Library
In
our reference library we have more than 3.000 modern pictures waiting
for you.
Here we have all important picture books in German language, published
in the last years.
The adjoining room invites especially smaller children to read, play or build. Part of the library is the "Geerte Murmann"-reading room in one of the towers.
The collection "Murken" will be opened to our visitors in spring 2004. Around 3.800 books for children about medical science, physicians and hospitals are the core of this unique collection.
The originals
Our visitors can see important examples of old and modern
picture book art in our exhibition rooms.
In a general view, you can see the most important trends and concepts
of picture book illustrating in the last 100 years.
The collection consists of artworks by Sibylle von Olfers,
Herbert Leupin, Jozef Wilkon, Tomi Ungerer, F.K. Waechter, Leo Lionni,
Helme Heine, Wolf Erlbruch, Nikolaus Heidelbach und Jutta Bauer.
The collection "Gertraud Middelhauve" (important publisher of picture
books from Cologne, now retired) and the artistic deduction of Lieselotte
Schwarz (1930 - 2003) are prominent in our exhibitions.
Since 1999 Burg Wissem is also the home of some thousand drawings by Janosch - the most popular picture book artist in Germany.
The picture books
Since 1995 the museum is the home of the collection "Brüggemann".
Around 2.000 old books for children dating from 1498 to the 1950s, collected
by Professor Theodor Brüggemann, an important expert for the history of
children's books (University of Cologne, retired), now it is a pleasure
for the bibliophile and a source of information for the expert.
Another
unique collection came in 2002 from Switzerland.
In more than 30 years Elisabeth and Richard Waldmann from Zürich collected
800 books, but also a lot of pictures, toys and objects concerning the
fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood".
Books and objects are dating from the 18th century to the 1990s and are
coming from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
The exhibitions
Every year the museum presents eight to ten exhibitions
about picture book art and artists.
In the last years we, among others, exhibited original works of Ida Bohatta,
Eric Carle, Tomi Ungerer, Sven Nordqvist and Wolf Erlbruch.
On our homepage you can see the up-to-date program.
Exhibiting the artist book
Only few museums in Germany regularly exhibit artist books
- one is the museum Burg Wissem.
In the last years we exhibited artist books by famous contemporary artists
like Georg Baselitz and Thomas Virnich, and we also presented the collection
"Missmahl" from Cologne.
Events
The museum Burg Wissem offers an extensive range of events for old and
young picture book fans:
Guided tours, artist and author talks, readings, symposia and lectures
(teachers, librarians and others), concerts and performances for children
and adults.
Our restaurant "Café Remise" will serve you with a small but fine selection of food and beverages, especially delicious cakes and pastries.