Today

Düsseldorf is not only Germany's second largest business city, but also has an international reputation as a center for art and culture featuring outstanding museums, theaters, and more than 100 art galleries.

The city on the Rhine is also home to various architectural art pieces such as the Benrath Palace and the Media Harbor.

Art treasures of classical modern art, works by the old masters, and contemporary art from all five continents are on display in the Museum Kunst Palast. Highlights of the exhibition include the internationally renowned Graphics Collection with a large number of important sketches from the Italian baroque era and the Glass Museum. Altogether the museum presents a total of 500 works from paintings and graphics, over installations and sculptures to photos and book illuminations.

For modern and contemporary art the Duesseldorf Kunsthalle has fascinated visitors with its prefabricated concrete structure and generously dimensioned exhibition halls. Changing exhibitions of contemporary art feature Düsseldorf artists, new talents as well as international artists.

Housed next door, the Museum K20 displaying 20th century art has an extensive modern art collection, including works by Picasso, Klee and Beuys. Since April 2002, the K20 has a younger sibling, the museum for international contemporary art of the 21st century, the K21 Art Collection. This collection is housed in a separate building and has post modern and avant-garde works starting from the late 70s.

The newest 'KIT' (Kunst im Tunnel) on the block is the Düsseldorf art tunnel, literally under the promenade of the Rhine River, where up and coming young artists display their works. Within the first 14 days after its opening this February, over 7,000 visitors came to see the artistic works in the KIT.

More than 200 years ago, Benrath Palace was built in the south of Düsseldorf, as a pleasure and hunting palace for the Elector Karl Theodor. Today the Palace houses the Museum of Garden Art and the Museum for Natural History. The palace with its garden is considered one of Europe's rare total works of art of the late rococo period.

More recently created and a piece of art in and of itself is Düsseldorf's Media Harbor representing Duesseldorf's modern site. Famous architects such as Frank O Gehry, David Chipperfield, Joe Coenen, Steven Holl and Claude Vasconi have made the MediaHarbor a meeting point for connoisseurs of architecture from all over the world. Where just a few years ago a gloomy atmosphere emanated from disused storehouses, renowned companies and cutting edge restaurants and bars as well as an urban beach are now established.

Twenty minutes outside of Düsseldorf is the Raketenstation Hombroich, a former NATO missile base, which was opened as a cutting edge art colony in September 2004. Art and nature unite in perfect harmony in a private museum set in park and meadowland created by the landscape planner Bernhard Korte. In this idyllic scenery, the artist Erwin Heerich placed 11 pavilions - each a piece of art in itself - to house artistic works. Tadao Ando's beautiful glass museum for the Langen Foundation, which comprises about five hundred works of Japanese art and three hundred works of modern Western art including works by Cézanne, Beckmann, Warhol, Rothko, Dubuffet, Bacon and Polke, graces the edge of Hombroich Island creating an oasis of calmrefuge.

An easy way to discover the Rhine metropolis and its museums is the Düsseldorf WelcomeCard. The discount card includes free ride on public transports, free or reduced entry to many museums and reduced fares for opera, theatre, variety theatre, and boat tours. The Düsseldorf WelcomeCard is valid for 24 hours (9 euros), 48 hours (14 euros) or 72 hours (19 euros) and is available at the Tourist Information offices, many museums, hotels and the ticket offices of the Rheinbahn (public transports).

For more information on the WelcomeCard and Düsseldorf's cultural highlights, visit www.duesseldorf-tourismus.de.

Traveling to Germany and Europe via Düsseldorf is very convenient and saves time. Delta Air Lines, Northwest, LTU and Lufthansa offer numerous flights from various destinations within the US to Dusseldorf.