This stunningly upgraded museum is the home of one of the world's largest collections of the works of Pablo Picasso, bested only by the Picassos in Paris and Barcelona. Irene Ludwig, widow of the late German art patron Peter Ludwig, for whom the museum is named, donated numerous Picassos to the museum, including 49 paintings, 29 ceramics, 37 works on paper, 15 relief plates, and 681 graphic prints, which previously had been on loan to the museum.

In 1976, Ludwig first gave more than 300 works of art to Cologne to form the basis of this museum. Some of these paintings are the most celebrated and reproduced Picassos in the world, including Harlequin with Folded Hands from 1923 and the disturbingly forceful Woman with Artichoke from 1941.

The museum is also home to a great collection of modern art from Dalí to Warhol. The American pop art collection, which also includes Roy Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns, rivals the Guggenheim in New York. Our two favorites are Dalí's Railway Station at Perpignan and Ed Kienholz's Portable War Memorial.

Museum Ludwig is also the home of Agfa-Historama, which chronicles the art of photography for the past century and a half, with works by all the greats. This collection of historic photographs and cameras is the largest in the world.