What’s happening with the planning and construction of the Museum Selma? Where is the project at? On this page about the museum’s construction, we would like to take you through the process of how our museum is coming to life.
The Museum Selma retells Germany’s history—through the diversity of its perspectives.
How did people with migration histories live through the „Wende(zeit)“ in the GDR after 1989? How do children of Italian immigrants remember the 2006 World Cup in Germany? What experiences did so-called guest workers have during strikes for better working conditions in the 1970s?
There are countless perspectives on German history that have played, at best, a minor role in the culture of remembrance to date. The Museum Selma will change that.
In the coming years, a unique cultural venue will be created in Cologne-Kalk, where the stories of a society shaped by migration will be told. On this page, we’ll digitally document the journey there: from the initial planning concept to the actual construction site. Here you can discover how a nationwide migration museum is taking shape, who’s involved, what steps are coming next, and what milestones have already been reached.
Here are the facts
Project client/Sponsoring organization: DOMiD gGmbH
Investment volume: 44.26 million euros
Funding bodies: State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Government
Building: 99-year leasehold granted by the City of Cologne
Opening: A new project timeline will be published once the redesign is complete
Location: Hall 70 of the former KHD site on Dillenburger Straße in Cologne-Kalk
Museum type: Sociohistorical museum / migration museum
Where do we stand right now?
Construction has not yet begun. We are currently in a planning phase.
Brief Update: The MKW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, has approved the planning funds requested by DOMiD for the redesign of the existing draft. DOMiD can now commission the general planner.
The design for the Museum Selma must be revised to approximately 60 per cent of the originally planned floor area in order to remain within the specified budget. To achieve this, planning funds have been requested to commission a general planning team and carry out the redesign. This work can now begin.
Due to a deadline regarding the federal funding, the re-planning must be completed by the end of 2026.
Stakeholders at all levels must work together in a solution-oriented manner to ensure that the re-planning can be completed by the end of 2026. The project structure specifically set up by the City of Cologne facilitates swift, pragmatic solutions that will help ensure the re-planning is successfully completed within this short timeframe.
Revisions (project client DOMiD)
What has been achieved, and what remains to be done?
A Europe-wide tendering process was launched to select a general planning team responsible for the architecture, exhibition design, and all other specialist planning disciplines for the Museum Selma. The two-stage procedure also required the submission of an initial concept sketch.
After five years of negotiations with the City of Cologne, the leasehold agreement for the museum’s premises and building was signed and approved. The agreement included financial commitments from the City of Cologne for the remediation of contaminated sites and the clearance of adjacent buildings.
Atelier Brückner from Stuttgart submitted the most compelling and cost-effective proposal and was commissioned by DOMiD. Construction planning is now underway.
Following an intensive planning phase, the construction-related planning documents were submitted in full and on time. However, the cost calculation revealed that rising construction costs and the building’s renovation requirements made adjustments necessary.
Following the efforts of committed Members of the German Bundestag and the project partners, the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag approved a one-year extension of the deadline. A reviewable application must be prepared by that time.
An alternative site in Cologne is being considered. In April, a change of location is ruled out, particularly for reasons related to funding regulations.
DOMiD plans to build the museum on only around 60 percent of the originally planned floor area. These changes to the spatial program make it possible to implement the project at the Cologne-Kalk site without exceeding the original budget.
Cologne’s Head Mayor is making the Museum Selma a top priority: At the roundtable with project participants, everyone expressed support for the proposal presented by DOMiD to build the museum on approximately 60 percent of the planned site area.
The MKW, NRW Ministry of Culture, has approved the planning funds requested by DOMiD to revise the plans.
A general planning team can be commissioned and the redesign work can begin.
The redesign work must be completed by the end of 2026. This is necessary to access the federal grant funding within the required deadline. For that, an application including the updated construction-related planning documents and a new operational and usage concept will be submitted.
A further extension of the deadline that applies to the federal funding is being pursued in parallel with the restructuring process as a protective measure.
During this phase, the necessary applications and approvals are prepared, and the building permit application will be submitted. It is then subject to a thorough review before the building permit is granted. How long this takes is beyond our control.
Once a building permit has been granted, the individual construction trades can be put out to tender and contracts awarded. The start of construction is coming closer.
News, stories and analyses
Frequently Asked Questions
The Museum Selma is the national migration museum of DOMiD, the Documentation Center and Museum of Migration in Germany. Drawing on the DOMiD collection, the Museum Selma will be established in Cologne over the coming years. As a museum of social history, it will retell the history of Germany since 1945 — enriched by the perspectives of migration. The Museum Selma will not be just any museum: it will be a place where people from a society shaped by migration can meet and engage with one another.
The Museum Selma is being built on the site of a former industrial complex in Cologne-Kalk. The Hallen Kalk site was once home to many so-called Gastarbeiter (“guest workers”) employed by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG (KHD). Today, it is being transformed into a cultural district that invites participation in one of Cologne's neighbourhoods most shaped by migration. The Museum Selma will be housed in Hall 70, where steel plates were once rolled. The building itself stands as a testament to Germany's migration history.
The Museum Selma is operated by DOMiD – the Documentation Centre and Museum of Migration in Germany. Founded in 1990 by migrants, DOMiD has pursued a clear goal from the very beginning: to establish a museum dedicated to migration. For more than 35 years, DOMiD has collected testimonies and objects documenting migration in Germany, preserving the unique tangible and intangible heritage of Germany's migration society. Since 2021, the non-profit company DOMiD gGmbH has served as the legal entity responsible for the Museum Selma.
It is not yet clear when the Museum Selma is going to open. A new project timeline will be published once the redesign is complete.
The Museum Selma is supported by the Federal Government, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the City of Cologne. For the investment costs, the German Bundestag and the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia each allocated €22.13 million in their respective budgets. The project was incorporated into the German Government’s National Action Plan on Integration, with the aim of “recognising the cultural richness of Germany, which is also thanks to people who have migrated here.” The City of Cologne is making the site and building available to DOMiD, the organisation responsible for the Museum Selma, for 99 years through a leasehold contract.
44.26 million euros, with half provided by the federal government and the other half through co-financing by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. That means 22.13 million euros each. This amount was not based on project design, but was a political mandate set in 2019.
In line with the funding provided by the Federal Government and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for the construction of the museum, DOMiD, as the project client, set a budget framework of €44.26 million for the Europe-wide tendering process for the museum's architecture and exhibition design.
During the negotiations over the leasehold contract (2020–2025), construction costs in Germany rose by an unprecedented 50 percent. In addition, the condition of the hall in which the Museum Selma will be housed proved to be worse than originally had to be anticipated, resulting in more extensive refurbishment work.
As of the end of 2025, the planned museum and its original spatial program faced a funding shortfall of about €20 million. This means that the increase in the project's costs was broadly in line with the general rise in construction costs in recent years. Once a contingency allowance and further cost indexation were taken into account, the total funding gap amounted to €33 million. As the funding bodies did not provide additional funding to cover these costs, an alternative solution had to be found.
After carefully weighing all factors, DOMiD, the organisation responsible for the Museum Selma, is pursuing the realisation of the museum at its originally planned site in Cologne-Kalk. By reducing the spatial program and the floor area to approximately 60 percent, the project can remain within the specified budget framework of €44.26 million.
As of May 2026, €4.11 million in planning costs had been incurred that have been paid from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia’s share of the museum’s funding (€22.13 million). These costs include the Europe-wide tendering process, legal fees, project management, as well as the general planning team with all specialist trades and disciplines for work phases 1 (basic evaluation), 2 (preliminary planning), and 3 (design planning), in accordance with the German Ordinance on Fees for Architects and Engineers (HOAI).
The design for the Museum Selma, including its originally planned spatial program, had already reached a highly detailed stage. If the additional costs had been covered by the funding bodies, work could have continued seamlessly, subject to a positive technical review and the continuation of the current framework conditions. The Museum Selma could then have proceeded to the approval planning phase (work phase 4).
In order to realise the Museum Selma at its planned site within the available construction budget, significant reductions to the spatial program require a redesign. The funds requested for this purpose by the organising body, DOMiD, from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW) using the allocated grant money have been approved. The redesign can now begin.
In order to realise the Museum Selma within the specified budget framework, the floor area must be reduced to approximately 60 percent. This involves a significant reduction of the planned spatial program, affecting, for example, the spaces originally intended for events. We can respond to these reductions through flexible use of space – for example, by designing the foyer for multifunctional use.
We have prioritized which functions should be implemented first. In a first step, the Museum Selma will be created with its publicly accessible areas, exhibition and educational spaces, and all the technical infrastructure required for these functions. The exact details of this implementation will be determined during the planning process. Thanks to the modular design, additional elements – such as collection storage facilities and administrative offices – could be added at a later stage if funding becomes available.
The Museum Selma will offer a high-quality museum experience even on less space. And the heart of the museum— the exhibition —will remain virtually unaffected by the cuts.
From the very beginning, the construction of the Museum Selma was approached with a strong focus on cost. During the tendering process, the contracting committee selected the most cost-effective bid. Through strict cost control, the project sponsor, DOMiD, has repeatedly identified potential savings even during the planning phase and has already reduced costs by several million euros.
The design by Atelier Brückner is what is known as a “house-in-house” installation. This approach requires only moderate retrofitting of the industrial hall’s building envelope to meet energy efficiency and other legal requirements; the climate conditions necessary for the museum objects can be created within the simple wooden structures. The leeway that typically exists in a renovation project is minimal.
The cost savings required to build the Museum Selma within the given budget can only be achieved by reducing the floor area and making cuts to the spatial program.
To stay within the specified budget, the Museum Selma will be built on approximately 60 percent of the originally planned floor area. As a result, planned spaces such as the event area, the library, and the areas for the collection and administration will be omitted.
We have prioritized which functions should be implemented first. The first step will involve the construction of the Museum Selma, including its freely accessible areas, exhibition and educational spaces, and all the necessary technical infrastructure. The exact details of this implementation will be specified in the plans. Thanks to the modular design, additional spaces could be added at a later date if funding becomes available. This applies, for example, to the event area, the collection, or the library.
The MKW has released the funds for the redesign. DOMiD can now commission a general planning team and the redesign work can begin. The redesign must be completed this year, as the funding is subject to a deadline of 31 December 2026.
You can find the current status of the project and the next steps at any time on this page under Project Status.
The Museum Selma is a unique project in Germany that enriches the country’s culture of remembrance.
On Site
