Stuttgart’s weather does not always cooperate. These four are all in or near the centre, and together make an easy half-day.
Staatsgalerie
The state art museum, in a much-photographed postmodern building by James Stirling from the 1980s attached to an older neoclassical one. The collection runs from medieval altarpieces to the twentieth century, with a strong modern section — and Oskar Schlemmer’s costumes for the Triadic Ballet.
Stadtbibliothek
The city library at Mailänder Platz, near the main station, is a plain white nine-storey cube by the Korean architect Eun Young Yi, opened in 2011. People come as much to look as to read: the central hall — the Herz, or heart — is a stark white space lit from above, rising through four floors, and one of the most photographed interiors in the city. It costs nothing to walk in, there is a café, and the rooftop terrace looks out over the city. After dark the outer skin glows blue.
StadtPalais and the planetarium
The StadtPalais, in a former royal residence, is the museum of the city itself — a free permanent exhibition, a big illuminated city model, family-friendly. A few minutes away in the palace gardens, the pyramid-shaped Carl-Zeiss-Planetarium runs star shows through the day.
Good to know
- The museums cluster around Schlossplatz; the library is a little further, toward the main station
- Most museums here close on Mondays; the planetarium works show by show
- The Staatsgalerie stays open late one evening a week
- The StadtPalais permanent collection is free, and so is the library