Amsterdam Nov 16 (BUS): Museums usually display no more than 10 percent of their entire collection to the public. The rest is usually kept off-site in some remote repository.
But the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum allows visitors to see it all – in a rather amazing way.
The Dutch seaside city of Rotterdam has a striking new allure: the warehouse of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Art Museum is the latest addition to the city’s stunning skyline.
The fully mirrored exterior surrounds a circular building that houses the world’s first fully accessible museum storage facility.
The Boijmans Museum’s precious collection includes around 151,000 works spanning seven centuries. Paintings, photographs, sculptures, designs, drawings and prints are stored, preserved and restored in this archive – before the eyes of visitors.
“The storeroom is the museum’s engine room,” said director Sgarrel X, who unveiled the building. Visitors can take a look behind the scenes and get an impression of the group at the same time, according to the German news agency (dpa).
Previous warehouses were insufficient and, above all, no longer safe for collection, which is estimated to be worth more than 8 billion euros ($9.1 billion).
The museum building was flooded several times. It is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, but in light of the increased risk of flooding due to climate change, storage in the basement rooms was not an option.
The previous manager wanted a publicly accessible warehouse. He said museums usually only show 6 to 10 percent of their collection to visitors.
“We want to share the whole group with everyone.” The artworks are not displayed as if they were in the museum itself.
They are hung on large sliding metal grids, in drawers or on shelves.
The building in the Museum Park Rotterdam was designed by the world-famous architecture firm MVRDV.
Architect Winnie Maas chose the circular shape. The warehouse should be open and attractive from all sides.”
The magnificent building has a much smaller plinth at the bottom than at the top, resembling a giant egg cup. The architect said it was inspired by a metal fruit bowl from an inexpensive furniture store.
The facade reflects the Rotterdam city skyline and the park’s trees. “The building blends in with its surroundings,” Maas said. Trees were also planted on the 35-meter-high roof terrace.
Central to the interior are the wide staircases. They lead crosswise through the lobby, six stories high. From the stairs, you can see 13 floating glass facades containing artwork. Among them is a painting by Karel Fabritius (1622-1654) and a bust of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).
For safety reasons, visitors are not allowed to search the shelves or open the drawers themselves. They are guided through the rooms in groups. Especially sensitive objects such as photographs or drawings can be seen upon request.
The objects are kept in five different climatic zones, depending on the material and size. They can also be restored in the warehouse, as is a painting by Vincent Van Gogh at the moment.
HF