High­lights 2025

World's largest computer museum celebrates 100 years of Heinz Nixdorf
Right at the start of the "Nixdorf100" anniversary year, the world's largest computer museum is opening a new exhibition area. To mark the 100th birthday of Heinz Nixdorf, who paved the way for electronic data processing in 1952, the Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn is opening the exhibition "Quantum Computers - Supercomputers of the Next Generation" on 11 January. In addition, the museum, which is dedicated to the 5,000-year history of information technology, is planning extraordinary events and activities throughout the year.
www.hnf.de

1,250 years of Westphalia
It is a region with many unknowns. Westphalia. First mentioned in the year 775, 1,250 years later all the secrets of the region where Bömskes are served at the Bude and people go to the open-air swimming pool are revealed. To mark the anniversary, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) and the LWL-Kulturstiftung have organised a large cultural programme with art, history, literature, music, cabaret and culinary delights throughout the region. The central project is the "775 - Westphalia" exhibition at the LWL Museum in the Kaiserpfalz in Paderborn, which will be opened by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 15 May 2025.
www.lwl-kulturstiftung.de
 

Hermannsdenkmal celebrates its 150th birthday
The most famous landmark in the Teutoburg Forest region is celebrating its birthday. For exactly 150 years, Hermann the Cheruscan has been raising his sword to the sky at Grotenburg Castle near Detmold, commemorating the legendary Varus Battle in 9 AD. On 16 August 2025, it will be festive around the tallest statue in Germany: the 150th birthday will be celebrated in style. On Hermann Day, there will be a big celebration with guided hikes and workshops, a historical feast and campfire, silent disco and music acts. The newly opened Hermanneum invites you to visit beforehand and uses digital applications to bring the history of the monument and its role model Arminius to life.
www.hermannsdenkmal.de
 

German Fairytale Route turns 50
Fairy tales will come true when celebrations are held along the German Fairy Tale Route from May to August 2025. This is because the route, which follows in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm from the River Main to the sea and features legendary stories, will be 50 years old. Famous fairytale characters such as "The Frog Prince", "Hansel and Gretel" and "Hans in Luck" are also travelling through the Teutoburg Forest. The holiday route passes through the town of Höxter, whose Corvey Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Bad Oeynhausen. The German Fairy Tale and Weser Legend Museum has been attracting international guests to the world of fairy tales, myths and legends right next to the spa gardens since 1973.
www.deutsche-maerchenstrasse.com
 

Loriot in the Ludwiggalerie, Oberhausen
His subtle humour is unrivalled. Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, held up a humorous mirror to petty bourgeois society like no other. Now the Ludwiggalerie Schloss Oberhausen is dedicating an extensive exhibition to the illustrator, writer and director. From 26 January to 25 May 2025, it will be presenting an exhibition entitled "Ach was. Loriot - Artist, Critic and Caricaturist", original drawings, sketches, correspondence, scripts, stage models and film clips from all of Loriot's creative periods. Of course, Wum and Wendelin and his famous bulbous-nosed men, Mr Müller-Lüdenscheid and the Hoppenstedt family are not to be missed.
www.ludwiggalerie.de
 

Kunstpalast Düsseldorf honours "Mama"
Men are of course also welcome when the exhibition "Mama. From Maria to Merkel" will open. Based on around 120 works from the 14th century to the present day, it focuses on social expectations of motherhood and shows how these have been reflected in art, culture and everyday life. In addition to paintings and sculptures, video installations and photographs as well as everyday objects will also be on display until 1 June 2025.
www.kunstpalast.de

Ewald Mataré in Kleve
This is the largest exhibition ever dedicated exclusively to the life and work of the artist Ewald Mataré, who was born in Aachen in 1887. Until 9 March 2025, the Museum Kurhaus Kleve is rolling out the red carpet for this important representative of classical modernism. The museum has a large Ewald Mataré collection that provides an insight into the artist's eventful career. The studio in which Mataré worked in Meerbusch-Büderich until his death in 1965 has been recreated for the exhibition using the original furnishings.
www.mkk.art
 

Chagall in the K20 art collection
He was regarded as the "wunderkind of modernism". As a young artist in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) experimented with new stylistic trends such as Fauvism and Cubism and combined these with Jewish motifs and Russian folklore. Although many of his motifs remain enigmatic to this day, Chagall's poetic imagery fascinates a worldwide audience. In particular, the early creative period of the artist, who was born in what is now Belarus, is now the focus of the exhibition "Chagall", which can be seen from March to August 2025 at the K20 of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.
www.kunstsammlung.de
 

21 RuhrKunstMuseen under one roof
How time flies. 15 years ago, as part of the European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010, the network of the now 21 RuhrKunstMuseen was founded. Their collections comprise no less than 500,000 works, from modern and expressionist classics to current contemporary art. To mark the anniversary, there will be a major special exhibition at Villa Hügel in Essen from April to July 2025 in addition to the "21 x 21" project, which will bring 400 works from the collections into a digital dialogue with one another. Works from all RuhrKunstMuseen will be presented here in themed rooms that provide an insight into the history of the Ruhr region's collections.
https://21x21.de