Art and Museum Library (KMB)

With over 600,000 volumes and dossiers on more than 100,000 artists and institutions, the Art and Museum Library of the City of Cologne (KMB) is one of the world's largest public libraries on modern art and photography. It was established in 1957 from its two predecessor libraries, the library of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum and that of the Museum of Decorative Arts (now MAKK – Museum of Applied Arts Cologne).

As a documentation center for art, the KMB offers a rich collection of various media on art from the Middle Ages to the present day. These include printed materials such as monographs, catalogs, magazines, etc., as well as invitation cards, newspaper clippings, and posters. The KMB is open to everyone and can be used free of charge. The holdings can be viewed in the KMB reading room at the Museum Ludwig.

As the KMB is a reference library, the holdings cannot be borrowed. However, it is possible to make copies or scans in the reading room.

It is generally advisable to pre-order the desired materials, as large parts of the holdings are stored off-site due to lack of space. Pre-orders can be placed directly via the online catalog. Further detailed information can be found on the library's website.