With “Hans Georg Esch: The Architectural Gaze · Epochal – Global,” the Museum of Applied Arts in Cologne (MAKK) is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of the renowned German architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch. The exhibition takes visitors on a visual journey through architectural history and the present: from Pompeii to Cologne Cathedral to the Chrysler Building in New York. Buildings by Oswald Mathias Ungers are featured alongside the Abu Dhabi Airport, which opened in 2025. Esch has also captured individual buildings in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shibam, Sanaa, Cologne, and Neviges in his photographs, which visitors to the MAKK can now admire.
The exhibition thus presents both large-format photographs and serial photo essays that bring architecture to life as a global, cultural, and contemporary phenomenon. Born in Neuwied in 1964, Hans Georg Esch has been working for more than 40 years both as an internationally sought-after commercial photographer and independently on his own photo books.
Services – MuseumsCard Offer
This offer includes admission to the exhibition “Hans Georg Esch. The Architectural Gaze · Epochal – Global” from June 11 through September 27, 2026, with the MuseumsCard Single for adults or the MuseumsCard Family. With the MuseumsCard, you can also visit as many other museums in the city of Cologne as you like on a total of two consecutive days when the museums are open. You have free choice:
- Museum Ludwig
- Wallraf-Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud
- Roman-Germanic Museum
- Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne
- Museum of East Asian Art
- Schnütgen Museum
- Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum – Cultures of the World
- Cologne City Museum
- Nazi Documentation Center
On the first day of validity, the MuseumsCard also serves as a valid ticket on public transportation operated by VRS partner companies within the city limits of Cologne.
