The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of Ethnography was founded in 1901, and is the only museum of its kind in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The core of the museum's collection was amassed by ethnologist Wilhelm Joest (1857–1897) during the course of his world travels. His sister Adele Rautenstrauch and her husband generously donated a dedicated museum building to house the collection in the city of Cologne, which opened in 1906. After 100 years of use, the original Ubierring location was closed in January 2008, and the museum will be reopened in a new location in the center of Cologne in the summer of 2009. The relocation will feature significantly expanded display space, a boon for a collection very seldom seen despite its importance.
The museum's collection and archives currently comprise about 65,000 ethnographic objects, over 100,000 historical photographs, and around 40,000 publications. The main geographical regions covered by the collection are Oceania (over 20,000 objects), Indonesia (10,000 objects), Africa (13,000 objects), and Asia (7,000 objects), as well as North America. The museum also holds three small but important archaeological collections from Egypt, Mesoamerica, and Cambodia/Thailand, donated by Ellen Doetsch-Amberger, Peter and Irene Ludwig, and Hans Wilhelm Siegel.