The Städel Museum in Frankfurt , also known as the Städel Institute of Art and Municipal Gallery, is one of the leading art museums in Germany. It was founded in 1816 by the great patron of the arts from Frankfurt Johann Friedrich Städel and the collection has been housed in its current location since 1878. The Städel Museum is one of the main attractions along Frankfurt's 'museum embankment' . The breadth and wealth of museums and galleries overlooking the banks of the Main here are unique in Germany.

There's no better way to observe the Ruhr region's transformation from industrial centre to cultural hub than at the Ruhrtriennale. Music, theatre, literature and dance have colonised the space where chimneys once smoked and blast furnaces sent red light flickering all around. From the outset, the idea of linking a multi-genre festival with the Ruhr valley's industrial heritage was greeted with enthusiasm by the media, audiences and artists alike.

World-class art is on show at the Sprengel Museum, which opened in 1979 in Lower Saxony's regional capital Hannover . It ranks as one of the major museums of 20th and 21st century art, with German Expressionism and French modernism particularly well represented. Additions to its collection in recent decades reflect the key movements in modern art – from Kurt Schwitters to Niki de Saint Phalle.

The Schirn building itself is a bit like a modern art work in the heart of Frankfurt's old quarter, a light, angular design contrasting with the grand, red sandstone cathedral and the Römer , the old town hall. This art gallery lies in the heart of the city – and is an important focal point in Frankfurt's cultural life. It is also one of the most celebrated galleries in Germany and in Europe.

Upheaval and avant garde, form and functionality, rigour and beauty: modernism is a broad term that has shaped an entire century and remains influential today. Hardly any other museum has concentrated as exclusively on this era as Cologne's Ludwig Museum, whose collection starts in the early 20th century and traces developments right to the present day in remarkable breadth and depth.

The fact that Düsseldorf , North Rhine-Westphalia's region capital, has an art museum of international renown today is thanks to the former Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II, who began to build an art gallery here in 1710. A generous patron, he was able to bring numerous artists to the court and transformed the city into a European centre for art. Although the Kunstpalast Museum itself was only founded in 1913, it would not be what it is today had the Elector not been such a passionate collector of art.

The collections at the State Gallery in Baden-Württemberg's regional capital Stuttgart have been shaped by their roots in Württemberg's history but also by the international approach the gallery has adopted since the Second World War. Opened as the Museum of Fine Arts in 1843, the gallery became the New State Gallery in 1984, occupying a striking new building designed by British architect and Pritzker prize winner James Stirling.