Move over Berlin, because Cologne (Köln) is where its at.... Artothek, is an art lending library founded in 1973 that is home to a collection of about 1,400 contemporary art works by international and local artists. Anyone can borrow a work of art for up to 10 weeks for a small fee.

Seated in a 15th century, late Gothic town house, just to the south of the Cologne Cathedral, it functions as lending service for contemporary art and source of information, in particular, on the Cologne art scene, the space for young art offers a location for exhibitions of Cologne artists as well as international guests. The main objective is to support and make public the work of young artists.

Cologne is the birthplace of the world’s oldest art fair, Art Cologne, which was established over 42 years ago and still takes place annually every spring.