The Museum Selma needs a new home

The Museum Selma will not be built at its planned location on the Hallen Kalk site. This is due to the huge rise in construction costs in Germany. One way of still bringing the museum to fruition is to consider a new location: the cultural centre at Neumarkt in Cologne city centre. Cologne City Council is due to discuss the matter later this week.

Unprecedented rises in construction costs in Germany have been posing challenges to private and public building projects for years: now the Museum Selma is also feeling the pinch.

According to expert reports and planning documents, the construction of the national migration museum at the intended site in Cologne-Kalk cannot be realised within the existing budget. In addition to the skyrocketing construction costs, the condition of the hall intended to house the museum also plays a role: the former industrial hall on the Hallen Kalk site would require much more extensive renovation than had been anticipated.

‘Using taxpayers' money responsibly’

Given the current price rises, this would mean that the entire budget for the museum building would have to be diverted to the renovation of the hall. No funds would remain for the construction of the Museum Selma. None of the funding bodies could cover the estimated additional costs of 33 million euros due to the tight budgetary situation.

“DOMiD handles taxpayers’ money responsibly and must therefore pull the plug,” explains Robert Fuchs, Managing Director of DOMiD, the organisation behind the Museum Selma. “We would have loved to have opened the museum in Cologne-Kalk and supported the cultural development of the Osthof Kalk with our presence on the ground. We regret that we cannot continue the good neighbourly relations we have built up with local stakeholders and remain committed to the jointly developed vision for the site.”