Gallerist Alex Flick’s insider guide to Cologne (2025)

I was raised by my mother in England, but my father isfrom the Rhineland so I often visited family in Cologne. When I was thinking about where to expand my gallery beyond London and Ibiza, Irealised that, for a relatively small city, Cologne is steeped in cultural history. It’s where some of Germany’s greatest artists – Sigmar Polke, Isa Genzken, Joseph Beuys – lived or exhibited. The whole idea of the art fair that we’re so accustomed to today started here with Rudolf Zwirner and Hein Stünke in 1967. We opened our first show in Cologne in April and I still want to be hereas much as possible. It’s also a place I really enjoy – it has a very local and friendly feel.

I like to stay at the Hotel Chelsea above Central restaurant, which I took over and reopened this year. It’s incredibly familiar, friendly and clean – and the walls could tell stories. When it opened in the 1980s, it was a real melting pot of anyone who was creatively involved in Cologne. My favourite story is of how artist Martin Kippenberger came to be a regular at the hotel; he won a bet with the owner fora week’s free board and breakfast, which turned into months. He basically moved in, paying for his stay with paintings. It was a who’s who of the German art scene and a forum for philosophical and creative discussion.

The city doesn’t put barriers up for people

Today there are a lot of galleries given the size of the city. Ilike the fellowship and community they bring. My gallery Gathering is on the same street as Galerie Khoshbakht andaround the corner from Jan Kaps in the Belgian Quarter. I also like the Museum Ludwig –it has one of the largest pop art collections outside the US– and the Peter Zumthor-designed Kolumba, the museum for the Archdiocese of Cologne’s religious art as well as one of the world’s biggest Paul Thek collections. It’s very quiet; most of the time there’s not that many people.

The Belgian Quarter is known for its bars. Start with a Kölsch – a lagered ale traditionally served in a wreath of 11or 12 glasses called a Kranz – at Salon Schmitz, which is open all day and late into the night. Or go to MD Bar, which is fairly nondescript on the outside but is a cool place founded by two artists.

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If you want to avoid the art crowd, La Fonda is a fabulous restaurant. I always have Frikadellen, traditional German meatballs. For a Kölsch with super-local cuisine, go to Päffgen on Friesenstraße and order Himmel und Erde, a traditional dish with mashed potatoes and stewed apples. My favourite restaurant is Hase, which means “hare”. It’s opposite Gisela Capitain’s gallery; she was Kippenberger’s gallerist and still works with some of the best young painters. I used to have lunch with her there and ask her advice over a plate of Pfifferlinge, seasonal mushrooms cooked in a cream sauce and served with pasta.

If I have a quiet moment for shopping, I go to one of theworld’s best art bookshops, Walther König. It’s been open since 1969 and I am yet to find its equal. It has a beautiful interior; it’s very relaxing. I bought a monograph of the abstract painter Blinky Palermo there when I first came to the city as an adult. It has a very worn cover now! There’s also Atelier X and Heimat for allsorts of cool fashion.

Cologne feels so small that I think less in neighbourhoods and more in, “how long does it take to walk from one place to another?” There is something about strolling through town from the Belgian Quarter to the Rhine, a majestic European river. The cathedral is also spectacular. It towers above the city and took more than 600 years to be completed. In 2006, they commissioned Gerhard Richter to redesign one of the stained-glass windows. It is a marvel and definitely one of the city’s absolute highlights.

The architecture of Cologne is interesting because you’ll have a medievalbuilding right next to one fromthe 1970s. It was heavily bombed inthe second world war, and the result isa strikingmix ofstyles that I would argue has extendedinto how Cologne feels – asense of open-mindedness, friendliness and approachability. The city doesn’t put barriers up for people who want to take the first step, not just into art, but into anything.