Those who are interested in art and culture will find an abundance of both in Germany. There are numerous galleries and museums both large and small around the country. These outstanding temples of art include the Hamburger Bahnhof museum in Berlin. In the former railway terminus of the Hamburg to Berlin line, exceptionally high rooms provide ideal conditions for presenting modern art. Ambitious contemporary works of art are on display here, as well as some of the old masters of modern art.
The Old National Gallery on Berlin's museum island collects and exhibits 19th century art. One of the key areas on which the museum focuses is the works of Caspar David Friedrich, the most important painter of German Romanticism, to whom it devotes an entire hall. Dresden's Zwinger, on the other hand, has specialised in somewhat older works. More than 760 major works of art by European painters of the 15th to 18th centuries are on display here. The uncontested highlight of the permanent exhibits is Raffael's world-famous Sistine Madonna. The last stop in our tour around Germany's temples of art takes us to Stuttgart's State Gallery. In designing this masterpiece, star architect James Stirling has given the town what amounts to a symbol of its love of art. The gallery offers what is considered to be one of Germany's most important art collections. Twentieth century painting and sculpture are represented here by some of their most important artists.