FOUNDATION
AUGUST MACKE HOUSE
OF THE SPARKASSE IN BONN

In 2002, the foundation's capital reached a total of €2,820,000, not least thanks to generous donations from private individuals. This made it possible for the first time to hire a full-time director and to upgrade the part-time position for the secretariat to a full-time position.

In 2004, the foundation acquired a plot of land in the immediate vicinity of Hochstadenring for the planned extension of the August Macke House. With the merger of the Cologne and Bonn savings banks in 2005, the foundation was given its current name. It now has foundation capital of around €6 million.

In 2010, with the support of Sparkasse KölnBonn, the foundation financed extensive measures for the renovation and spatial optimisation of the August Macke House and carried them out successfully.

Thanks to generous funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Minister of State Bernd Neumann, which came about on the initiative of Federal Foreign Minister Dr Guido Westerwelle, and with the support of the Rhineland Regional Council, the foundation was able to completely renovate, refurbish and spatially reorganise the August Macke House in 2011.

A total of around 740,000 euros was spent on this: The Federal Republic of Germany provided a grant of 500,000 euros. The Rhineland Regional Council contributed 48,000 euros for the functional redesign of the ground floor. The Sparkasse KölnBonn provided 90,000 euros and the August Macke House Foundation of the Sparkasse provided 100,000 euros for the implementation of the first package of measures.

The renovation measures were part of the planned structural and content-related expansion of the August Macke Haus, which was conceived by Dr Klara Drenker-Nagels and whose realisation was one of the foundation's most important goals.

On 8 November 2012, at the suggestion of Bonn Member of Parliament Dr Guido Westerwelle, the German Bundestag's Budget Committee decided to support the planned extension of the August Macke House with 3.5 million euros from the federal budget. A few months later, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia signalled its support for the construction project with 1.5 million euros.

In spring 2013, the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation for Nature Conservation, Heritage and Cultural Preservation agreed to provide up to €400,000 for the conversion of August Macke's former home and studio into a biographical museum dedicated to the artist.

On 17 September 2013, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Minister of State Bernd Neumann, the State Secretary to the Minister for Family, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bernd Neuendorf, and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the August Macke Haus Foundation of the Sparkasse in Bonn, Prof. Dr Ludger Sander, signed the agreement to finance the extension in August Macke's former studio in the presence of Federal Foreign Minister Dr Guido Westerwelle, who had been particularly committed to securing federal funding. In 2013 and 2014, the Rhineland Regional Council pledged a total of up to €400,000 in funding for the initial museum furnishings of the extension.

On 26 September 2014, the 100th anniversary of August Macke's death, the city of Bonn granted the building permit for the planned extension to the August Macke House.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 22 June 2015 and was conducted by Minister of State for Culture Prof. Dr. Monika Grütters. The foundation stone was laid on 13 January 2016. It was designed by sculptor Petra Siering, who was awarded the August Macke Medal by the City of Bonn in 2014.

On 15 February 2016, the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation provided the August Macke House Foundation of the Sparkasse in Bonn with a grant of €50,000 to install a disabled-accessible lift in the extension to the August Macke House. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on 17 June 2016 with around 100 guests.

The construction work was completed in autumn 2017 and the now extended artists' house was reopened as the August Macke House Museum on 3 December 2017.