We bring art and culture to life! Through unique artifacts, we explore contemporary issues and historical contexts, inspiring people to help shape their cultural future.
The Clemens Sels Museum Neuss, together with its branch, the Feld-Haus – Museum of Popular Prints, the archaeological excavations at the Romaneum, and the “Fossa Sanguinis” pavilion, forms a modern, multidisciplinary institution with a focus on art. Its collection of Symbolist art, in particular, is highly regarded internationally. It possesses the most significant collection in Germany of works by Gustave Moreau, the “Father of Symbolism,” a later teacher of the Fauves, and a role model for the Surrealists—an artist rarely represented in collections in this country. Furthermore, the museum’s collection is made unique by its high-caliber works of Old Master art, the Pre-Raphaelites, Rhenish Expressionism, Naïve art, and color painting.
Also of outstanding importance are the finds from Roman times, which impressively demonstrate that Neuss is one of the oldest cities in Germany. In the summer of 2021, the Lower German Limes is expected to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Neuss would then boast two important sites with World Heritage status—the Koenen Camp and the small fort on Reckberg—whose history is brought to life at the Clemens Sels Museum Neuss.
Its collection, its temporary exhibitions, and its wide range of educational programs give the Clemens Sels Museum Neuss a distinctive profile within the German museum landscape.
The Clemens Sels Museum Neuss originated from the Altertumsverein, founded in 1839. In 1908, Pauline Sels, the widow of Dr. Clemens Sels, bequeathed to the city of Neuss an extensive art collection as well as a substantial sum of money intended for the construction of a museum in a central location. In 1912, the museum building on the Markt was opened to the public. Following its destruction during World War II, the museum and its collection moved to the Obertor. Due to the enormous growth of the museum’s holdings, a new building became necessary. This museum building, commissioned from architect Harald Deilmann and featuring a passageway to the Obertor, opened in 1975 and underwent extensive renovation in 2015.
The Clemens Sels Museum Neuss is municipally funded. In addition to its core functions of acquiring, preserving, presenting, educating, and researching, it sees itself above all as a vibrant multimedia platform and a socially relevant meeting place where open discourse on art and culture can take place and the future can be actively shaped.
It is therefore our stated goal to provide all citizens of the “New German Urban Society” with access to our cultural offerings that is as barrier-free as possible, with in-person formats increasingly being supplemented by hybrid and digital formats.
The Clemens Sels Museum Neuss sees itself as a learning and innovative organization whose most important resource is its staff, with their creativity, specific expertise, skills, and dedication. People of all backgrounds and ages work together as equals, regardless of their lifestyles.