The Augustinermuseum

One of the most important museums on the Upper Rhine is the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg im Breisgau, which has a well-known collection of paintings from the 19th century as well as works from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. The holdings of the Diocesan Museum of the Archdiocese of Freiburg are also represented here; the museum has worked closely with the city’s collections since the 1920s without its own structure. Two other important lenders are the Adelhausen Foundation Freiburg and the Münsterfabrik Fund.

Since 2004, the building – a former Augustinian hermit monastery with a Gothic cloister – has been extensively renovated in three stages and converted into a contemporary museum. After several years of renovation, the former monastery church was reopened on March 23, 2010. The second construction phase, the “House of the Graphic Collection”, was completed in 2016. The last construction phase, the former convent building, is scheduled to open at the end of 2025.

The Unterlinden Museum in Colmar and the Historical Museum in the Barfüsserkirche in Basel are of comparable importance for the presentation of the art and cultural heritage of the Upper Rhine from the Middle Ages to the 20th century (the collections in Strasbourg and Karlsruhe are each spread across several museums). Although the Augustinermuseum is administered by the city, its holdings mean that it functions as the state museum of the former federal state of Baden in its former capital.

Getting there

Leave the Schusterstraße building to the left, turn right into the first alley (Augustinergasse) and you will be standing in front of it.

Leave the Münsterplatz building to the right, walk down Kaufhausgässle towards Schusterstraße and – slightly to the left – follow Augustinergasse and you will be standing in front of it.