Among the objects in the foun­da­tion archive is a slim, spiral-bound file put together by Karl-Heinrich Müller in September 1985. Its title – ‘Major Solution for Insel Hombroich as a Cultural Centre’ – indicates that Müller had already set his sights on deve­lo­ping his museum grounds beyond the Erft wetlands. While cons­truc­tion work on what is now Museum Insel Hombroich had already begun in autumn 1985, the art centre that would be estab­lished at Rake­ten­sta­tion Hombroich was not yet in place – nor was Kirkeby-Feld, which would tie both locations together. Müller’s concept paper for a ‘major solution’ for the nascent museum grounds is firstly a written account of his ideas, his dreams and his under­stan­ding of Insel Hombroich and secondly a means of attrac­ting potential investors for his project. In the foreword, he writes:

“Insel Hombroich was origi­nally a dream. A secret dream that suddenly became reality. Nature and culture can come together here in a truly exemplary fashion – and the more involved one gets in Insel Hombroich and its surroun­dings, the wilder one’s dreams become.

The first dreamer, a collector, joins forces with artists and the lone dreamer becomes a veritable alliance of dreamers. The influence of all concerned is more important than one person’s initia­tive and everyone gives their all. But this dream is coming up against financial limi­ta­tions and needs new dreamers to come on board.”

Müller also writes that Insel Hombroich would be opened for the first time in spring 1986 and that the intention was for it to then “continue growing from this initial nucleus into a major solution covering a wide space”. The following pages of his concept paper outline exactly what this major solution was to entail. Taking into account the need for culture and nature and the economic perspec­tive, the major solution included expanding the physical scope of the museum grounds and specified its artistic acti­vi­ties and objec­tives. The expansion initially referred to the second phase that was to add a further 4.5 hectares of wetland to the core part measuring 3.3 hectares that had already been built in autumn 1985. Müller was also conside­ring expanding the museum “in the wetland field on the left bank of the Erft” by leasing or acquiring 2.7 hectares of agri­cul­tural land. As well as this, he had already cast an eye over the Rake­ten­sta­tion in autumn 1985 – leasing or acquiring this area would increase his ‘cultural centre’ by 8.3 hectares.

At this point, the Rake­ten­sta­tion was still a NATO military base. None­theless, Müller wrote to the Federal Defence Minister as early as December 1984 declaring his interest in buying the site. With great perse­ver­ance, he finally succeeded in buying the Rake­ten­sta­tion, following which the concep­tual work around the restruc­tu­ring and expansion of the area commenced in spring 1994, and the active usage in 1995, when the artists began to move into the studios and resi­den­tial buildings.

In his concept paper on the major solution, Karl-Heinrich Müller is already thinking about adding this military site to his museum grounds – and this was back in autumn 1985, ten years before the sale of the Rake­ten­sta­tion finally went through. In ‘Section G: Rake­ten­sta­tion’, he describes what is unique about this location:

“Main­tai­ning this facility in its cold, austere form as a symbol of this century, and having it restruc­tured and expanded, ideally by architect Raimund Abraham – insofar as we can secure him for the project – as he has worked exten­si­vely with under­ground archi­tec­ture. Storing in this area: objects, docu­men­ta­tion, etc., from military, technical or economic areas that have the kind of quality that will lead them to be seen in the future as artistic values of this century – like bridges, oil refi­ne­ries, rockets, aero­planes, computers, etc.

The overall atmo­sphere within the Rake­ten­sta­tion was to provide a tech­no­logy-rooted contrast to the ties to nature and culture being formed in the wetlands.”

In other words, Karl-Heinrich Müller saw the Rake­ten­sta­tion as a place that should always make reference to its original usage. He felt that objects and documents from this specific time should be collected here, shown and docu­mented in a kind of archive. This focus shifted over the years and the Rake­ten­sta­tion became a centre for the arts. It was shaped to a great extent by the artists who would live and work there, through the cons­truc­tion projects and walk-in sculp­tures by renowned artists and archi­tects, who designed the area around the Raketenstation’s existing archi­tec­ture. The Rake­ten­sta­tion was also intended to create a contrast to the museum in the wetland landscape – roughness versus roman­ti­cism.

This written document from September 1985 clearly shows the concep­tual strength, vision and holistic approach with which the collector designed his museum grounds. An extract from this archive object can be found, along with other written and visual documents, in the exhi­bi­tion ‘From Military Zone to Vibrant Art Centre – Rake­ten­sta­tion Hombroich’, which can be seen in the photo­graphy rooms at the Rake­ten­sta­tion.

The series ‘From the Archive’ presents archival materials, books, artworks and objects from the extensive archives and coll­ec­tions of the Stiftung Insel Hombroich.