Kunsthalle

Description:

• This art gallery has long been celebrated for its 19th- and 20th-century French and German art, including paintings by such masters as Rubens, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Delacroix, Courbet, and Picasso.

  In the summer of 2001, the museum made world headlines with the stunning announcement that a treasure trove of art, which had hung here for a century until its disappearance in 1945, had been returned. The story of the return sounds like a movie plot. The rare paintings, worth millions, included works by Rembrandt and Dürer, and had been stashed in a castle for safekeeping by Nazi soldiers. Soviet troops uncovered the works and handed them over to the KGB. In time they were shipped to the Baku Museum in Azerbaijan from which they were eventually stolen. The art later turned up in New York when a Japanese businessman and an Azerbaijani wrestler were arrested in a Brooklyn apartment where the stolen art was stashed.

  The star of the purloined works is Dürer's drawing, The Women's Bathhouse, showing a voluptuous scene of six nude women. There's also a Rembrandt drawing, Woman Standing with Raised Hands.

  All the stolen works can be seen on display on Tuesday. On any other day, you must call ahead for an appointment. However, even without these works, the Kunsthalle is worth a 2-hour visit.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010