Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The core of the museum is the collection of Leipzig publisher Anton Kippenberg, who, as head of the Insel-Verlag, spent decades together with his wife Katharina gathering manuscripts, printed works, and pictures related to Goethe. After his death in 1950, his daughters placed the holdings in a foundation; a contract with the city of Düsseldorf in February 1953 secured a location and financial support. On June 30, 1956, the museum opened, initially in the rebuilt Hofgärtnerhaus on the Hofgarten.

In 1987 it moved into the neighboring Schloss Jägerhof, an electoral hunting lodge based on plans from 1748 and completed in 1772. The location is fitting: in 1774 and 1792 Goethe stayed with his friend Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi at Jacobi’s country estate in Pempelfort, which at the time was separated from the palace only by gardens.

With around 50,000 objects, the Kippenberg collection is considered the largest private Goethe collection; alongside Frankfurt and Weimar, the museum is one of the three major centers of Goethe research. Its facilities include a manuscript archive with about 30,000 items, a research library open to the public with around 25,000 volumes, sheet music, and an art collection.

In 2018 the long-standing chronological permanent exhibition was significantly reduced to make room for changing presentations. On view today are, among other things, a room on Goethe’s theory of colors, a collection room with showpieces, and rooms on Goethe’s real and imaginary journeys. In 2026 the museum celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Highlights

• Room on the theory of colors with replicas of Goethe’s experimental apparatus to try out
• Original manuscripts, letters, and first editions from the Kippenberg collection
• Models of Goethe’s house and garden house in Weimar
• Rooms on Goethe’s Italian journey and the West-östlicher Divan
• Rococo palace Schloss Jägerhof on the edge of the Hofgarten

Permanent exhibitions

• Ständige Sammlungspräsentation – Selection from the Kippenberg collection with the theory-of-colors room, a collection room with Weimar models, and rooms on Goethe’s journeys to Italy, the Rhine, and the Orient.

Founded

1956

Operated by

Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf / Anton-und-Katharina-Kippenberg-Stiftung (gefördert von der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf)

Director

PD Dr. Boris Roman Gibhardt

Admission & discounts

For daycare and school groups, guided tours and children’s activities cost €1 per child.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The entrance is reached via four steps; inside there is an elevator and a loaner wheelchair. Public accessible parking spaces nearby in front of the Künstlerverein Malkasten.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations

Children’s tours and workshops (program as a flyer on the website), scavenger hunts, and digital rallies through the museum; in the theory-of-colors room, visitors can recreate Goethe’s prism experiments. For daycare groups there are hands-on tours for ages 3 and up or 5 and up.

Getting there & parking

From the A52 (toward Essen) via Münsterstraße, Prinz-Georg-Straße, and Jacobistraße; from the A46 via the Zentrum exit and Berliner Allee to Jägerhofstraße.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit