national museum case study

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Norman Foster and his High-tech Architecture

Diebedo francis kere- first african to win pritzker architecture prize, thomas heatherwick – fascinating architect, oscar niemeyer- hero of the modern architecture, chichu art museum: portrayal of japanese brutalism, biomimicry architecture: eastgate centre – harare, zimbabwe, vastu direction for home, top 10 fabulous wooden structures in the world, 10 upcoming futuristic projects in the world: a glimpse into architecture…, architecture of indian cities: top 10 cities for architects., are the skins of larger buildings prefabricated, what is 3d printing technology how it is used in architecture, the best designing software that every architect must use, best laptop for architecture students in 2021, 5 representations of technology in the world of architecture, unveiling the essence of architecture: a comprehensive exploration, architecture juries – 10 things to remember before them, top 20 architecture colleges in the world, top 20 architecture colleges in india, top 20 architecture colleges in canada, national museum delhi – largest museum of india.

National Museum Delhi was the first largest and planned museum in India. Which had been designed by Gurgaryear Committee. It’s connected to all or any or any the Mother city by four Major roads from all directions. it’s four stories with the basement. Also, the basic form of the Building Is Fan formed with the circular court in between enclosed by a coated gallery. In addition, wings are connected with the court consistent with totally different necessities.

National Museum Delhi – Largest Museum of India

Together with art objects of historical, cultural and inventive significance with the aim to show, protect, preserve, and interpret and to function cultural centre for enjoyment and interaction of the folks in inventive and cultural activity.

Zoning of National Museum Delhi

The zoning is doing vertically as well as horizontally. Administration and different workers connected areas and services like H.V.A.C, electrical and different services are at the basement. exhibitions are placed at a higher level. Horizontally, it is a zone into open, transition, and exhibition areas.

Circulation

It has loose circulation. Visitors enter in hall kinda gallery left aspect of the token counter, all hall is connected with one another with a center circulation court 6m wide, exhibition area of various floors are connected with stairs and lifts and toilet is provided on the stairs.

About floor plans of National Museum Delhi

Moreover, exhibition halls are interconnecting with a central circulation court 6m wide separate entrance for VIP. And physically handicapped are also present.

Underground fire-tank is providing, Conservation lab is providing on the 2 nd floor, common storage, A.C plan room, electrical, provided in the basement.

Firstly, Harapan civilization, Maurya, Gupta, Terracotta, Bronze, Medieval art, Buddhist art, Jewellery, ornamental art, miniature painting, these galleries are placing at ground floor

Secondly, coins, Indian painting, manuscript, Ajanta painting, Thanjavur painting, these galleries are placing on the first floor.

Moreover, textile, western art, wood carving, tribal art, music instrument, these galleries are placing on the second floor.

Lighting at National Museum Delhi

Each display has its own focused light, diffused light. Which are utilizing in false ceilings or hanging by steel sections. No natural light is using inside it. Artificial light is doing with daylight exhibits to keep a minimum. Natural lighting is barely utilizing in the center circulation court. Well played with focused lights with the utilization of concave and convex lenses totally different places. In the jewelry section, the gallery was dark and receding pockets were creating with minimum lighting. The full structure is based around the central rotunda that lights up the whole passageway.

Gallery Circulation

All the Galleries are in a Closed area so Binding Oneself to reach on every display. The main passageway is approx. six mt wide right along the O.T.S. Galleries are largely Rectangular in form. stairs are Provided for Vertical Circulation. Height Varies From 2.4 to 3.5 mt.

Display techniques at National Museum Delhi

Haphazard travel movement, the form of the area is itself useful in the display. Columns returning in between are additionally using for display, linear arrangements on the corridors, some paintings are boxing within the walls. Whereas most of them are hanged on walls, display to display distance is 3.5 m to 4 m, every display has its own focussed light, diffuse light. Lights are utilizing in false ceilings or hanging by steel section, no natural lights are using. Interiors were doing with the assistance of wood, glass and stone. The flooring used is marble and wood. totally different wall colors and rendering are finishing to avoid monotony.

About structure

The building is a trabeate structure using high-strength R.C.C & red sandstone. And flat beam with drop beam utilized in building. Floor to floor height is approx 4m. Also, all external facades have finished with yellow paint, red sandstone, and sandstone. All internal walls are plastere& color consistent with the theme. False ceiling exhausted exhibition areas All floor end are terrazzo, wooden, tiles & rubber flooring. Interiors are making with wood, glass, stone, aluminum is additionally utilizing in several sections like bronze and coin gallery. Also, temporary structures are provided around the building.

Observations at National Museum Delhi

Separate entrance for VIP. Stone sculptures are places around the building. So there is three front entry in building however just one in use due to security purpose. A loose movement system is provided within the building. Its shop and institute is a further advantage. Also, seating arrangements are creating for the guests to look at the thing of interest on display. The toilet isn’t properly placing in the building. No additional firefighting stairs in the building. No natural light is utilizing in the exhibition. It has its galleries rotating around an open courtyard, no views are providing. Sculpture in the central gallery isn’t visible properly due to glare from the back.

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Museums as Intangible Heritage: National Museum of Natural History (Nmnh), New Delhi : a Case Study

The role of museum is to acquire, preserve and promote their collections as a contribution to safeguarding the natural and cultural heritage. Preservation, study and transmission of this heritage are of great importance for all societies, for inter-cultural dialogue and sustainable development. Interaction with the constituent community and promotion of heritage is an integral part of the educational role of the museum. Museums have great potential to raise public awareness on the benefit of heritage, its value and importance for societies. In recent years museum is experiencing one of the most noteworthy transformations with global recognition of the urgent need to preserve the intangible heritage. The international community (UNESCO) has also become conscious that Intangible Heritage needs and deserves international safeguarding. This paper focuses the case study of National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi (India) with safeguarding Intangible Natural Heritage. This is the fir...

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Degree project for Master of Science with a major in Conservation 2018, 30 HEC Second Cycle 2018:21

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CASE STUDY: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC

By From The Wire@SVConline

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to African American life, history, and culture. To design specialized acoustic and audio delivery solutions, exhibit designers Ralph Appelbaum Associates tapped SH Acoustics along with engineering firm Electrosonic, while museum systems specialists Design and Production, which handled […]

Delivering audio to tightly defined areas within large, open theaters required precise sound placement, according to SH Acoustics president and principal consultant Steve Haas, so his team relied extensively on RenkusHeinz ICONYX-series loudspeakers. “The permanent exhibits in the museum cover more than 85,000 square feet,” Haas said, “and they include media programs of all types, from large scale to hundreds of interactive exhibits, smaller experiences, touchscreens, and soundscapes. The spaces are enormous, and we had to control sound in many overlapping areas, so we had to pull every trick we knew and some we couldn’t imagine we’d utilize. Renkus-Heinz ICONYX loudspeakers gave us the beamsteering technology and high-end audio quality we needed.”

Sound for the videos is stereo, rather than surround, because the gallery theaters are so open. “We used tricks with delayed stereo to achieve immersive environments without leaking to larger areas,” relates Haas. “Renkus-Heinz ICONYX IC8-R-II and IC16-R-II loudspeakers were our choice for front program speakers because we could use their beam-steering technologies to precisely place audio with minimal leakage between exhibits and spaces. And we used them in unique ways.”

For example, Renkus-Heinz systems are employed in the fourth-floor Culture Galleries. “There’s a wide open theater with a 360-degree elliptical screen overhead,” said Haas. “You sit on benches or stand in the middle and view a custom production that wraps around you, which is very dynamic. To make stereo audio feel multidimensional, we placed six IC16- R-IIs behind the elliptical screen. Each array provides specific area coverage. We created enough of an overlap that we get even coverage, yet it feels like some sounds are present and some are distant.”

Other media experiences surround the cultural theater. “We wanted to get sound close to the people, especially those sitting on a bench,” Haas said, “So a continuous perforated screen wraps around the entire room, up high—people walk under it to get into the theater—and we spaced horizontal IC16-R-IIs around the ellipse. They aren’t evenly spaced, because of the shape of the ellipse, but ray tracing determined the exact spacing so we got good overlap.”

Complicating matters, “the exhibit designers wanted interactive stations right under the screens, facing the outside of the ellipse,” said Haas. “So we had to ensure the ICONYX weren’t in line with the interactive exhibits. Otherwise, the speakers’ vertical spread would pummel sound down on top of the interactive stations.”

From The Wire@SVConline

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B.Arch Thesis: National Museum of Architecture, Delhi

B.Arch Thesis: National Museum of Architecture, New Delhi, by Niranjan Kaur

July 5, 2019

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The National museum of architecture is a project proposed by Greha along with the council of architecture, INTACH and Indian Institute of architects. The site for the project is in Lado Sarai, New Delhi, 1km away from Qutub Minar.

The idea of this thesis is to explore and find out what an architectural museum should aim to do. The understanding of architecture varies between architects and the public. Every person is directly or indirectly affected by any piece of architecture, just that majority of them don’t realize what is it about architecture that’s affecting them and how. They appreciate/criticize architecture consciously/sub-consciously at times without understanding why it is the way it is. This difference in understanding between the architect and his/her subject (any person getting affected by architecture) needs to be brought to the same level by providing a platform that brings them together. This museum will become a centre for knowledge for everyone visiting it. It will become an icon that people want to see when they visit the city of Delhi. It will become an inclusive public place for people from all backgrounds to gather and talk about architecture. It will become a place of education for aspiring architects to do their research and understand architecture. Most importantly, it will become a place that is important to city without disturbing the city fabric. It should stand out not in terms of its form, but in terms of the spatial experience. The architectural expression will be such that it reflects the past, present and the future of architecture.

The place will empower architects as they receive better acknowledgment and appreciation for their works. The museum is meant to house information about other buildings so that the visitors understand and learn why they appreciate or they don’t when visit a piece of architecture. It might be known as the guardian of heritage. It might be known as a centre of knowledge for those who wish to know about architecture. It might be a platform for people to connect to each other through the exhibits and spaces. Whatever this museum is identified as will be a reflection of what it aims to do. PROPOSITION: This thesis aims to connect the society to architecture on a level that bridges the gap between the understanding of the architecture between the architects and their victims (referred to anyone getting affected by any piece of architecture).

The museum will exhibit the architecture marvels of the past, accomplishments of the present and the vision for the future. The experience will involve weaving of all the three phases of time, a time-line to dive into. This experience of a time-line will be translated into architecture. Therefore, the museum will be dedicated to both historic and contemporary works, it will be journey from certainty to uncertainty which will further get translated into the architecture of exhibition spaces, site planning and the building form. Major functions:

1. LIBRARY: Library provides services to the public and contain large number of books or volumes related to all aspects of architecture including biographical information about renowned architects.

2. CONVENTION CENTER: Auditorium, Multipurpose hall and exhibition galleries are largely public function, people- intensive components. These spaces allow events like seminars, lectures, film-screenings, launches of new proposals, etc.

3. MUSEUM: Museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artefacts and other objects related to subject which are available for public viewing through exhibition that may be permanent or temporary. The museum will house various galleries showcasing the historic works of architecture to the traditional-vernacular to the contemporary architecture. It will house drawings, models, photographs and films showing depicting design as well as the construction process.

i. Gallery of ancient history (permanent)

ii. Gallery of modern architecture (permanent)

iii. Gallery of contemporary architecture (temporary)

iv. Gallery of contemporary architecture (temporary)

v. Gallery of the futuristic visions (temporary)

4. RESEARCH CENTER: It is consisting of R&D labs, innovation centres, discussion rooms, workshops, lecture rooms all programmatic element associated with the activities involve in the pursuit and dissimulation of knowledge.

FORMULATION OF THE AREA PROGRAM: Concept for the formulation of the area program according to the requirements of the user groups that the museum will visit the museum.

For students and architects:  CONVENTION/CONFERENCING FACILITY: Auditorium and multi-purpose halls to hold lectures and such events Meeting rooms

For students and research scholars:

RESEARCH CENTRE: Research and Design labs to provide a kind of a co-working space for researchers and students. A library containing books on all subjects of architecture and archival drawings.

For architects and public:  MUSEUM: Exhibition galleries containing exhibits of historic architecture, modern architecture, contemporary architecture and temporary galleries allowing space for future interventions. For Research scholars and public:  PUBLIC FACILITIES: Residential facility containing guest rooms for research scholars and tourists. Spaces like cafes allowing the two to interact.

SITE: A 1.3-hectare, vacant

INSTITUTIONAL SITE, belonging to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has been identified. This is located in Lado Sarai, close to the Qutb Complex and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with good access from the Mehrauli Badarpur Road.

DEVELOPMENT CONTROLS: LANDUSE: Public/semi-public (Socio-Cultural institution) TOTAL AREA: 12800 sqm MAXIMUM GROUND COVERAGE: 35% MAXIMUM FLOOR AREA RATIO: 120 MAXIMUM HEIGHT: 26m PARKING: 2 ECS per 100 sqm SETBACKS: 9m on all sides (NBC 2016)

AREAS OF RESEARCH:

1. MEDIUM: In a museum of architecture, it is important to understand the medium through which architecture will be exhibited. It may be models, drawings, photographs, digital media and also virtual reality. Therefore, it will be required to be specified what is needed in this case. 2. PROGRAMMATIC CONTENT: It will also be necessary to study the programmatic content in order to evolve an area program. The study shall also focus on the sub-divisions and inter-relationships of each component. 3. REFLECTION OF TODAY: The museum should reflect the present, therefore there will be a need to study how are the buildings such as museums and research centres which are meant for public/ semi-public use being designed today, in addition to the study of the ones which have been significant since a number of years.

RESEARCH AND DESIGN:

The medium of displaying information is majorly responsible for its identity and for drawing people to the museums. In case of museums dedicated to archaeology, the display objects are presented in the condition that they were found in. This holds true for a number of museums which display historic objects, documents or maps. Art museums display objects in the mediums used by respective artists. Therefore, the medium was not something that could be controlled in every museum. However, as the technology is growing, there has been a revolution in field of exhibiting. Digital technologies have found a home in the modern museum in the forms of interactive touchscreen kiosks, CD-ROMs, computer games, largescreen installations and videowalls with multiple images, digital orientation centers, “smart badge” information systems, 3-D animation, virtual reality, and increasingly sophisticated museum web sites (Griffiths, 1999). This has changed the physical character of the museum. Be it historic museums, art museums, science museums or any other, people are exploring new ways of exhibiting artifacts and information by prioritizing the USER EXPERIENCE. In case of a museum of architecture, one wonders about the possibilities of mediums through which information can be displayed. A recent architectural exhibition organized in 2018 at Mori Art museum (Tokyo) on ‘Japan in architecture’ displayed information through models of all scales, installations, drawings, photographs as well as digital display, interactive touch screens and 3D projections. The Van Gogh Museum’s recent display using Sensory4 technique is the latest attempt at using technology to revolutionize museum experience. Van Gogh’s works are projected on a large scale on walls allowing the users to notice every detail and have an experience of a lifetime. Exhibition held at NGMA in 2014 dedicated to B.V. Doshi’s works recreated some parts of his buildings on large scale so that the visitors can experience the same. Another intervention in the field of exhibitions is virtual reality. Taking the users to a different space virtually to make them experience the scale and proportions of it. This can be very important to the field of architecture. NMOA will be not just be a museum but a part of the network of museums all over the country. DesignXdesign exhibition, 2019, held in Delhi consisted of a Virtually reality exhibit in which one could virtually change the interiors of the room they are standing in. The building needs to be a reflection of the today in the sense that it also glorifies the historic achievements as well as paves way for future interventions. NMOA will consist of functions that allow preservation, exhibition and research of information/objects of architectural importance. In addition to this, it will also support and encourage conversation/interaction among architects and the public.

The strong context with a dense urban village on one side of the site and open green land on the other requires the museum to be sensitive to this urban fabric. Thus, the massing and design has been approached such that it responds to its immediate context as well as the site itself. The placement of the open and the built needs to respond to the context around it as well as the placement of the functions. The idea of placing a large plaza in the front has been derived from the concept of an ever-changing space which is visible from the main road, it will house temporary exhibits that will keep on changing. This gives a dynamic nature to the front face. The corner opening towards the main road ensures a visual connection by providing the passersby with glimpses of exhibitions. The plaza may be used as a semi-open exhibition space. The central opening towards the Phirni road becomes the main entry to the complex. This establishes a visual axis with another opening towards the Lado Sarai village. This visual axis further divides the site into two parts, across which all the functions can be well-distributed. On one side are the functions which are mostly public like the museum galleries and cafes, on the other side towards the main road are semi-public functions in the sense that they will be used mostly by research scholars, architects and students who visit the centre for research purpose. In addition to the research centre, there is a convention centre for conferencing and lecture purposes. This centre may be accessed directly from the Phirni road via the rear entry leading to the lobby of the Convention centre or it may be accessed from within the internal courtyard. Towards the most private corner (NW) of the site is the guest house with a drop off from an external road as well as access from the internal courtyard. The library, research centre and museum mass facing towards the green patch of land which symbolizes the growth. In similar manner, the guest house and the convention were placed according to the context. The terraces in the museum are also placed considering the same approach as the plaza in the front. These are supposed to provide space for open-to-sky temporary exhibitions. The ever-changing nature of these exhibits will also add to the dynamic nature of the facade. As one enters the museum block by crossing the connection bridged with the drop off, there is an option to use the escalators or elevators to move between any two floors. The ground and the first-floor house temporary galleries with circulation such that the entry and exit point is the same (the internal gallery circulation can be seen in the floor plans shown later). Second, third and fourth floors house permanent and temporary exhibitions with circulation starting and ending at different points in order to maintain flow of movement particularly in the U-shaped plans and eventually link with the exit core as well. The museum circulation ends on the fourth floor as one reaches the core to lead them down to the lobby exiting out to the drop off area and also allowing them to collect their belongings from the cloak room. The strategic placement of the museum shop is also in the same area to attract the visitors as well as passersby to the shop. The drop off area also connects to the plaza in the front giving an option to the visitors to look at the exhibits over there or have a meal/snacks at the restaurant. In addition to this F&B facility, there is a small, not-so-heavily serviced cafe on the top floor with the view of the surrounding context. The front plaza leads down to the convention centre as well through the stepped courtyard. The guest house facility can also be accessed through the courtyard.

FACADE TREATMENT:

The Internal facade and section depict the traditional architecture and expression. The facade will consist of traditional windows/doors as a part of exhibits popping out in small boxes. Functionally, these boxes are balconies which are supposed to be points of pause within the museum allowing the visitor to stop by and take a break in these naturally lit balconies. External facade is reflective of the present and the future through a very contemporary look. A dynamic facade helps reduce the heat gain using rotatable panels made out of aluminium jaali and solid aluminium sheet. These panels provide the external facade with a continuous and uniform skin. The panels are rotatable mostly where there are openings inside. The panels outside solid walls are mostly fixed to save energy. Facade for housing features triangular shading devices on two sides of the room windows. Since, it a South-east facing facade, the idea of these shading devices is to protect the building from the southern sun.

Niranjan Kaur

B.Arch Thesis

10 Responses

Can I get your complete report ,please even i have some similar thoughts for the thesis project.

Is this the actual proposed site for the project ?, because I am opting for similar building and can’t find a relevant source to confirm it ..

Hi Dipangshi, There was a concept report of proposal prepared by the firm working on the museum. That is what helped me confirm the site.

mam i need your proposal report so plz can you give me ?

Can you pls share me the name of that firm who is working in it?

heyy by any chance did u get the firm name

hey by any chance did u get the proposal?

Ma’am please confirming site area?

Can u please tell me measurements from all sides od site plan please

hi, can you please tell the name of the firm who is working on this museum. its very important.

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MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art by Zaha Hadid: Continuity of spaces

The MAXXI museum or as they call it in Italy, the “Museo Nazionale Delle Arti del XXI Secolo”, is one of the most renowned museums appreciating contemporary and modern architecture . The museum was designed by Zaha Hadid and was established in 2010.

As they call it, the architecture of the 21st century, The museum carries the enhanced essence of Zaha Hadid ‘s style of form and structure. This building was one of the buildings that Zaha Hadid designed for a design competition and only this one was made.

MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art by Zaha Hadid: Continuity of spaces - Sheet1

Zaha Hadid is one of the most prestigious architects of all time who also won the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. In 2015, she became the first woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architecture . Her designs represent the fluent and wavy flow of the buildings and this museum also highlights the same.

The concept of the Museum is a notion that believes in no boundaries and amalgamation of ideas, functions, and forms. The museum was inspired to be built as an open and flowy space, hence, canceling out the isolations and closed spaces. These continuous and open spaces function as interactive spaces that not only summons people to visit the museum but also create an interesting element in the museum.

MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art by Zaha Hadid: Continuity of spaces - Sheet2

Continuity in spaces not only enhances the grandeur of a space, but also makes the area pretty functional for moving around for temporary exhibition for a project like a museum, without any walls or confines.

The design concept of Zaha Hadid was to move away from the concept of typical museums and hence, an attempt was made to continuously intersect spaces and create interior and outdoor spaces simultaneously.

One of the main concepts of this structure is the structural uncovering for modernism. There is no compact volume, there is just continuous space leading to an unending vision. This building sure sets a great example for the modern and contemporary style of construction.

The five gallery suites have a ceiling height of 6m and on the 2nd and 3rd floors, the daylight enters steadily through the glass roof which is supported on steel trusses. The trusses beside includes a mechanism to expose pictures or sculptures that can’t be floor mounted. ( Source: phdessay.com)

MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art by Zaha Hadid: Continuity of spaces - Sheet3

Planning of the museum indicates fluidity, and the circulation is dependent on the path functionality of the building or how a particular space should be seen and displayed.

The building in itself appreciates the classic heritage and brings together the elements of neoclassicism and modernism by moulding curvy and smooth walls and structures.

Particular attention has been given to the natural lighting of the building by thin concrete beams on the ceiling together with glass covering and filtering systems. The same beams have a bottom rail from which art pieces are going to be suspended.

The beams, the staircases , and the linear lighting system guide the visitors through the interior walkway, which ends in the large space on the third level. From here, a large window offers a view back to the city, though obstructed by a massive core.

MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art by Zaha Hadid: Continuity of spaces - Sheet4

The Maxxi consists of two museums. One is the ‘Maxxi Art’ and the other is. ‘Maxxi’ Architecture. Apart from the two, the Maxxi also culminates in the presence of a library, media library in art and architecture, along with cafeteria restaurant bars, galleries, etc.

Features of MAXXI

The museum cherishes grandeur, elegance, and continuity and doesn’t believe in boundaries. Zaha Hadid’s vision was to not isolate or condense spaces but to give a unit and make spaces, according to form follows function. The museum represents a storyline, carrying visions and ideas following the footprint.

The interweaving volumes established from the curved concrete forms and the input of natural daylight adds up to the aesthetic and the functionality of the museum. The roofing system complies with the highest standard required for museums and is composed of integrated frames and louvers with devices for filtering sunlight , artificial light and environmental control. (Source: Slideshare)

The lighting was made efficient by thin concrete beams on the ceiling together with glass covering and filtering systems. The same beams have a bottom rail which would be suspended, displaying art pieces. The beams, staircase and the interior lighting system guide the interior walkway, which ends in a large space on the third floor. From here, a large window offers a view back to the city, though obstructed by a massive core.

Construction Method

The construction is done on the basis of strip footing. The construction of the museum was definitely a tricky one because of the material and the method of construction. The construction was typically modern style and the walls of MAXXI were cast on site.

The structure was not erected on columns; instead, load-bearing walls were used along with steel structures.

Coming to the circulation of the building, Zaha Hadid made sure that the user interacted well with the built, and therefore ramps were made in open spaces, hence, compelling the user to walk through spaces.

Being a prominent structure of the 21st century, the modern and contemporary style of architecture has been emphasized and Zaha Hadid has obviously given her signature curves to the building, which not only makes it aesthetic but also functional.

The museum enhances the display of a narrative of ideas and concepts along the corridor and the functionality of the museum influences the form of the building.

Some critics did mention that the areas provided for the display were not accurate, but the grandeur of the museum comes from there and the area is enough to display large frames and artwork. The construction of the museum is quite typical but carried out efficiently. The continuity and the form of the museum sure look aesthetic but also enhances the function of the museum.

Kavya is an enthusiast who believes and dreams and stay true to them. She is a dedicated person, who always tries to explore her limits by experimenting. She is a great negotiator with good communication skills verbally and in written. She is a dancer, content writer, currently an architecture student and is experimenting her interests in interior design and journalism. Being stretched out in so many directions, multi tasking and management becomes one of her strong pursuits.

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Museoception

A Museum of Museums and Cultural Policy

Case Study: National Museum Policies Timeline, 1970s

Last updated: October 18, 2021

As part of the Dawson City Museum Project , I am creating timelines of the Museum’s development in relation to government policy and community action ( 1950s , 1960s , 1970s , 1980s ).

The 1970s were significant in the development of an explicit community museum policy and a significant implicit community museum policy (student employment policy) at the federal level. As such, I am considering these timelines separately and with greater detail. These timelines are a work in progress – please let me know if you think anything important is missing!

Canadian Conservation Institute
Museums Assistance Program
Implicit Museum Policy

Explicit Museum Policy

June: Cabinet approved a cultural policy.

August – September: The Secretary of State, Gérard Pelletier, represented Canada at the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference in Venice, studying cultural policies.

There was wide agreement, however, on two essential tasks that governments must take responsibility for: the adequate financing and proper planning of cultural institutions and programs. Final Report: Venice, 24 August – 2 September 1970

September: The Canada Conference of the Arts held a National Conference on Cultural Policy.

Screenshot of the Conference schedule, showing Pelletier's talk titled "The Development of a Cultural Policy in Canada"

Pelletier, spoke at the Conference about the federal cultural policy (objectives = democratization, decentralization, pluralism, federal-provincial cooperation and international cooperation). He received many requests to consult on policy, leading to planned consultations (Pelletier 1971; Source ).

February: Cabinet approved Pelletier’s proposed museum policy in principle. The policy was most concerned with circulating the National Museum’s collections (Privy Council’s Office, 1971).

Efforts to bring collections which constitute part of the national heritage to the notice of the general public have been largely inadequate. The museums, including the National Museums, tend to emphasize the preservation of this heritage to the neglect of the public. For this reason, priority must be given, at least temporarily, to relations between the museums and the public. Cabinet Document No. 27-71; Translated Summary of the memorandum to cabinet: Cultural policy with regard to museums and the national heritage

February 14-16: Pelletier held a conference on the role of museums in the 1970s – CONSULTATION I: Museums 70+ Conference.

October: The Canadian Museums Association (CMA) circulated excerpts from Pelletier’s presentation at CONSULTATION I to the museum community through the Gazette with the CMA’s responding brief.

March 28: Pelletier announced a National Museums Policy (objectives: democratization and decentralization), leading to the:

National Inventory (now the Canadian Heritage Information Network)

April: The CMA circulated the policy in their Gazette.

1973: The National Museum Policy: A Program for Canadian Museums provided a comprehensive description of the new policy’s components:

Associate Museums : A network of museums meeting certain standards and engaged in programming beyond their institution (e.g., demonstrating “regional initiative”).

Special Grants : A fund to help museums achieve higher standards so they can receive better exhibits.
Exhibition Centres : Capital funding to help institutions meet standards so they can become National Exhibition Centres, displaying the National Museums’ collections.
Training Assistance : Funding to increase the number of trained individuals.
National Loan Collection : Collection of materials designed for public use in non museum situations.
Emergency Purchase Fund : A fund to purchase nationally significant materials at risk of being sold abroad.
Canadian Conservation Institute : They planned five regional conservation laboratories with headquarters in Ottawa.
National Inventory of Collections : A computerized data bank of all major collections.
Catalogue Assistance : Support to help a museum prepare for eventual inclusion in the inventory.

Image of an article titled Museumobiles parking where the people are. There are images of the museumobiles at the bottom.

Museumobiles : Traveling museums on wheels from the National Museums.

1975: International Programme created to facilitate international exchanges of exhibitions.

1978: As part of austerity measures, the National Museums of Canada budget receives a significant budget cut (OMA 1978/1979).

Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI)

The Canadian Conservation Institute originated as the National Conservation Research Laboratory within the National Gallery of Canada in the 1960s.

1972: The National Conservation Research Laboratory split from the National Gallery of Canada and becomes the Canadian Conservation Institute ( source ).

The Director of the CCI went on a recruiting campaign in Europe to find specialist staff (Stolow 1973).

1973: The Pacific Conservation Centre was established in Vancouver with three conservators specializing in archaeology/ethnology, works of art on paper, and paintings.

Picture of an article about the regional lab in BC.

The Conservator Training Program was established to increase the number of conservators in Canada.

The CCI conduced a survey of museums in the Atlantic provinces, finding a significant need for conservation work. They also conducted a survey in British Columbia, finding the conservation needs great and urgent (CCI 1976).

The CCI offered scientific services through the Conservation Research Division at Headquarters, including (Sebra 1973):

Consultative Services
Analytical Services
Scanning Electron Microscope

June: The Atlantic regional laboratory was established in Moncton with conservators specializing in fine arts, paper conservation or attracts. There were plans to open a larger facility at the local university by 1978 (CCI 1976).

The CCI’s training program began.

1975: The CCI created an exhibition of recently restored works (Duncan 1975).

The CCI began searching for directors for regional labs in Ontario and Quebec.

1976: Brian Arthur was hired as the Director and he implements changes in the organization ( Click here for a podcast interview with Arthur from CCI and CHIN: In Our Own Words ).

Arthur reorganizes the CCI to make a better use of available resource through the integration of conservation research and services (CCI 1976).

The CCI opened a permanent exhibition – A Future for our Past (Walker 1976).

1977: A small facility opened in Quebec.

The Pacific Conservation Centre released a report about the poor condition of museums in BC and Yukon. If you have access to this report – contact me! I would like to read it 🙂

A mobile conservation services was proposed to the NMC’s Board of Trustees, but postponed due to a lack of resources (McCawley and Ward 1980).

1979: The Regional Centers closed following financial cuts to the CCI (McCawley and Ward 1980).

The NMC commissioned Anne Lambert to study the conservation needs across what is now known as Canada (Mitchols 1979).

The Silver Lining: A Plan for the Future is released.

Mobile Labs start as a 2.5 month pilot project (Arthur 1980). The project is seen as an “unqualified success” (OMA 1979/1980).

The CCI began lending an Environment Monitoring Kit for two to three week periods (Lafountaine 1980).

Museums Assistance Program (MAP)

1972: In its first year, organizations could apply for funding in the following categories ( source – an example of newsletters providing great information ):

Associate Museums

Picture of the description of the associate Museum program

Special Grants : A $1.5 million fund to allow smaller museums to upgrade their staff and facilities so they may become eligible to be an associate museum.
National Exhibition Centre : A $750,000 fund for Centres that did not have their own collections but could form a complimentary network to the associate museums in order to display exhibitions from the National Museums.
Catalogue Assistance : A $300,000 fund for organizations that want to catalogue their collections using procedures suggested for the National Inventory.
Training Assistance : A $500,000 fund to increase the number of trained personelle in what is now known as Canada.
Emergency Purchase Fund : A $1 million dollar fund so museums can purchase objects of national significance threatened with sales to other countries.
Canadian Conservation Institute : While it was being established, there was a $1.65 million fund for the restoration of works in urgent need of attention.

1974: Funding provided in the following categories (Morrison 1974):

Core funding:

Project funding:

Special Grants
National Exhibition Centres (for renovations and additions)
Training Assistance
Cataloguing Assistance
Emergency Fund

1975: The Consultative Committee (formed to advise the NMC on the National Museum Policy’s financial assistance) engages in a revision of the financial programs (Proonovost 1975)

The application approval process is updated with greater emphasis on provincial consultation (Nichols 1979).

They develop a new structure described as follows ( source ):

National Exhibition Centres
Capital Assistance Program: Financial support and technical assistance for capital projects that will enable public programming or increase access to cultural heritage.
Special Activities Assistance Program: This continued to be a catch all kind of program “designed to provide financial, informational and coordinative assistance to non-profit organizations seeking to undertake specifically defined projects of a special, experimental, innovative, managerial, or informational nature that meet the intent and requirements of the Nation Museum Policy” ( Source, 2 ).

1978 : The National Museums Corporation (NMC) recommends the establishment of a specialized museums program because specialized collections were not receiving “satisfactory attention” (OMA 1978).

The NMC engaged in consultation on the Associate Museums Programme because (NMC 1978):

After six years, a real network still did not exist.
There was no clear articulation of Associate Museum’s purpose, role and responsibilities within the network.
Designated institutions were diverse with little standardization.
Federal vs. provincial responsibilities were unclear.

The Council of Associate Museum Directors approved the resulting “Preliminary Plan for the Associate Museum Programme” in October and then by the National Museums Corporation’s Board of Trusties in December (Clark, 1979).

At this time, MAP included both core (operational) and project funding:

Core Funding Assistance:

Capital Assistance
Special Activities Assistance
Registration Assistance

Implicit Museum Policy – Employment Programs

Job programs in what is now known as Canada have typically aimed to: reduce cyclical unemployment, target a disadvantaged labour force (e.g., youth), relieve regional or structural unemployment, and produce something or provide a service of social value ( Roy and Wong 2000 ). Museums are often well positioned to take advantage of these programs because they generally have a significant need for additional human resources to complete even basic museum activities, which arguably are of social value.

1970s: Baby boomers were entering the workforce looking for jobs, causing an increase in the youth unemployment rate ( Roy and Wong 2000 ).

1971: The federal government establishes the Local Initiatives Program (LIP) to create jobs with an emphasis on areas where de-industrialization caused high unemployment ( source ). Originally, half of the 100 million budget was allocated to fund private projects working toward better communities. The other half was allocated to municipal government projects in consultation with provinces. Additional funding went to private projects, increasing the budget to about $180 million (Blake 1976).

1972: LIP begins with a $85 million budget, but once again there are increases that raise the total expenditures to around $235 million (Blake 1976).

LIP is criticized as part of the 1972 election (Blake 1976).

1974: The LIP budget is reduced to $73 million (Blake 1976) and then continues to experience cuts.

1976: Employment Strategy announced ( Keck 1995 )

1977: LIP is terminated (with a 47 million budget in 1977-1978 – source ).

The federal government announces Canada Works and Young Canada Works to create jobs with a budget of $300 million ( source ). The main difference was YCW targeted youth with summer jobs and CW provided up to 52 weeks, targeting areas of high unemployment ( Roy and Wong 2000 ).

1979: The 1979-1980 Canada Works program restricted to provinces where unemployment was 9% or greater (OMA 1979a)

I have a feeling there is a lot missing! What else would you add? Is there an area you think needs more information?

Arthur, Brian. 1980, January. “CCI Mobile Laboratory Service.” F2091 15 B253022 CCI OAC. Archives of Ontario.

Blake, Donald. 1976. “LIP and Partisanship: An Analysis of the Local Initiatives Program.” Canadian Public Policy. Vol. 2 (2): 17-32.

CCI. 1976. The Journal of the Canadian Conservation Institute. Vol. 1.

Clark, Ian. 1979, January. “Letter to Robert Johnson.” Rg47-50_1 NMC programme correspondence. Archives of Ontario.

CMA. 1978, September. “Ottawa Report: Museum Assistance Programmes.” Museogramme . Vol. 6(6): 1.

Duncan, Elizabeth. 1975, July. “Swing and Hear a diverse exhibit.” The Ottawa Citizen. p. 63.

Lafontaine, Raymond H. “Monitoring Kit: Environmental Controls Save Artifacts.” The Journal of the Canadian Conservation Institute. Vol 4: 47-48.

McCawley, J.C. and Ward, P.R. 1980. “Regional Services: “helping museums help themselves.”” CCI: The Journal of the Canadian Conservation Institute . 4: 14-19.

Mitchols, Dann. 1979, May 23. Letter to John McAvity. F2091 15 B253022 NMC correspondence. Archives of Ontario.

Morrison, Barry. 1974. “The National Museum Policy.” Ontario Museum Association Newsletter Vol. 3 (3): 3 – 4.

Nichols, R. W. 1979, March. “Letter to Douglas Wright.” Rg47-50_1 NMC programme correspondence. Archives of Ontario.

NMC. 1978. “Towards a New Policy for the Major Museums in Canada.” F2091 15 B253022 associate museums program. Archives of Ontario.

OMA. 1978, April May. “Report Recommends New Specialized Museums in Ontario.” Currently Vol. 2(2): 1.

OMA. 1978/1979, December January. “National Museums Cut by $5 Million.” Currently Vol. 2(6): 1.

OMA. 1979a, October November. “Federal Employment Grants Cut.” Currently Vol. 3(5).

OMA. 1979b, February March. “Young Canada Works Grants.” Currently Vol. 3(1): 1.

OMA 1979/1980, December January. “First Mobile Lab – An Unqualified Success.” Currently Vol. 3(6).

Pelletier, Gerald. 1971, February. “Museums and the National Heritage: A Cultural Policy.” CCA MG28 I189 Vol 24 consultationI museums 70+ (file one). Library and Archives Canada.

Privy Council’s Office. 1971. Cultural Policy with Regard to Museums and the National Heritage. RG2, Privy Council Office, Series A-5-a, Volume 6381 Access Code: 90.

Pronovost, Pierre. 1975, April 17. Circular Letter. F2091 15 B253022 NMC correspondence. Archives of Ontario.

Sebra, K. 1973, October. “Scientific Services.” Newsletter 1: 4.

Stolow, N. 1973, April 3. Report of the Director. RG47-51 B328429 canadian conservation institute. Archives of Ontario.

Walker, Kathleen. 1976, December 8. “Canadian Conservation Institute: An Interesting Exhibit Details Various Phases of Service and Operation.” The Ottawa Citizen. p. 99.

Black Philanthropy and a Common Agenda: A Case Study From the National Museum of African American History and Culture

When the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) opened as the 19th Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC in 2016, many were unaware of the profound movement of philanthropy and community-building that had been brought to life as a part of the institution’s creation.

The Smithsonian raised more than $400 million through private philanthropy to create the Museum. Much of this sum came from African American donors, some of whom were first-time philanthropists. The story of how the NMAAHC came to be demonstrates the power and potential of Black philanthropy and points the way for a more equitable philanthropic future for all of our nation’s institutions.

A 100-Year History

The idea for a museum of African American history and culture was first proposed by a group of Civil War veterans in 1915. Congressional appropriations were made in the subsequent year, then shelved, and ultimately reallocated to other projects in 1929 due to the Great Depression.

For decades the idea of a museum lingered. In 1985, former Congressman Mickey Leland resurrected the idea. After LeLand’s passing, Congressman John Lewis took the reins in advocating for the museum. An initial feasibility study was commissioned through the National Park Service in 1988 and in 2001 a Presidential Commission was formed to further explore the concept. In 2003 President George W. Bush signed the National Museum of African-American History and Culture Act, which authorized the creation of the Museum as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution.

It took another 13 years to design, fund, and build the Museum and its programs. When NMAAHC opened to national acclaim on September 24, 2016, it was more than 100 years after Civil War veterans advocated for, and the federal government first funded, the idea.

A Donor Base Built From Scratch

NMAAHC was originally estimated to cost $500 million. Through a true public-private partnership, it was projected that funding for the Museum would come through federal appropriations ($250 million), matched by private philanthropic dollars ($250 million). However, federal appropriations would only be distributed proportionally with the private philanthropic dollars raised. Two major challenges loomed: 1) The Smithsonian did not have a pipeline of donors for the project because historically it did not have a diverse donor base, and 2) The project had not yet solidified an architect, site location, content areas, programs, or curators. NMAAHC’s fundraising team was going to have to start from scratch.

When Lonnie Bunch was hired as founding director in 2005, his vision for the Museum was clear: to “tell the complete American story from an African American lens.” His aspirational vision was foundational to the creation of the Museum and the securing of early philanthropic support. Exceptionally talented curators were hired to help bring Lonnie’s vision, and a community’s story, to fruition. The Council, made up of top African American philanthropists and businesspeople, was simultaneously selected to vet the museum’s scope and focus, help open doors to high-level prospects, and advance fundraising efforts.

Ultimately, 25 development staff, including eight frontline fundraisers, made up the team that raised a total of more than $400 million to open the Museum. All of the frontline fundraisers were Black. All four of the individual giving officers were Howard University alumni. Three members of the team previously worked in development at Howard, and one had been the director of a Black museum in Miami. Our team’s education and experiences were solidified at Black institutions, preparing us for the colossal task before us. It was the strongest fundraising team I had ever been a part of, and the most intense and fulfilling project I had ever worked on.

Early in our evolution, NMAAHC incorporated a donor recognition and benefit structure into its operations, coining the term Founding Donors to recognize the donors that committed $1 million or more. Early support, including gifts from Oprah Winfrey, Ken and Kathy Chenault, Dick Parsons, Kellogg Foundation, Lilly Foundation, and American Express, helped build credibility and expectations for the Museum as we embarked on our journey.

The Prelude to NMAAHC

To bring the Museum to life prior to the physical structure opening, integrative and engaging initiatives were undertaken to show how the museum would strengthen the Smithsonian and the United States.

In 2008, 4,000 square feet of temporary exhibition space opened at the National Museum of American History to showcase the quality and variety of NMAAHC’s exhibitions. Exhibits like Changing America , Scurlock Studios , and Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello introduced Smithsonian visitors and prospective donors the breadth, depth, and diversity of the American story. A Save Our African American Treasures program was created and toured across the country, teaching communities how to preserve and care for their family heirlooms and historical objects.

In 2010, an international design competition attracted top architects to submit their creative designs for the Museum. The top five contenders had their 3D renderings on public display in the Smithsonian Castle. The selection of architects David Adjaye, Phil Freelon, and Max Bond generated enthusiasm from donors and the community more broadly, as they were a world-class team coming together to design a world-class museum. Solidifying the National Mall as the Museum’s location further added to the anticipation. The Museum’s potential to tell a more complete American story from an African American lens, thereby transforming the Smithsonian – and the country – was becoming more concrete. Many factors helped lay the foundation for a successful fundraising campaign.

Networking and Pivotal Events

Using standard development strategies, our fundraising team began identifying and cultivating donor and prospect networks in major metropolitan markets like New York, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Chicago. I was assigned to California, Texas, and Florida.

Using an expanded stewardship structure (Founding Donors: $1M+, Major Contributors: $100K – $999K, 2015 Society: $25K – $99K, Ambassadors: $5K – $24K and Charter Members: $25+), we identified new prospects by donor level. I was able to uncover hundreds of prospects in a short period of time, and the Smithsonian research team helped me vet and rate the prospects. Regional campaign strategies evolved through a relentless process of identifying and cultivating prospects. During this stage, we often worked 12-hour days building networks, meeting with new prospects and connectors, and building spreadsheets tracking donor engagement.

We had to identify and engage key connectors in each region. For instance, in San Francisco, former Mayor Willie Brown was one of the connectors that helped us garner significant Bay-Area support. Fundraising success required us to know business, political, and social landscapes, and the faux pas to avoid, in each region. No two cities are philanthropically alike. To be a successful regional fundraiser, you must understand the nuances of how a community and its network work.

Once a solid foundation was laid, we worked to secure a Founding Donor ($1M+) in each region to help set the bar for our philanthropic expectations. I would like to personally thank Deborah Santana for stepping into a leadership role and making the first Founding Donor gift in the Bay Area. This gift laid the foundation for being able to host the first high level cultivation event in California and ultimately brought in $60M from the state. Ann and Gordon Getty generously agreed to host a high-level cultivation event at their home, where we announced Deborah’s Founding Donor gift. Within six months of that event, we closed $8M in philanthropic commitments from Bay Area donors. We were on our way to success.

Simultaneously, my colleague Margaret Turner began building networks and cultivating relationships within Black legacy organizations, including fraternities, sororities, and churches. As these organizations began committing $1M gifts, ripples of support started blanketing the country. These organizations were critical both for the support they provided, but also as pathways of connection to thousands of donors. Margaret and I shared mutual respect, support, and friendly competition as we competed to close the highest number of $1M gifts. Margaret was a brilliant fundraiser and invaluable colleague. We lost one of our best fundraisers when she passed in 2017. May she rest in peace.

The Smithsonian deepened our credibility by extending its institutional benefits to NMAAHC donors, providing donors with exclusive access to the breadth and depth of America’s Museums.

We were building communities within communities, and ultimately, one big community supporting the Museum. We had built credibility and people wanted to be a part of the network.

Momentum and Leverage

As the Museum built momentum towards Grand Opening, more opportunities to leverage stewardship benefits in our cultivation and solicitation emerged. Most Grand Opening events would be reserved for donors giving $5K or more, and recognition on permanent donor walls would be reserved for donors giving $25K or more. These new stewardship benefits helped us close a plethora of outstanding gifts we had been cultivating.

Two major donor events in our opening year (2016) helped us close an unprecedented number of gifts:

Pauletta and Denzel Washington hosted an event for $1M+ donors in California, which raised a whopping $18M. Moreover, the publicity from the event sped up our solicitations with deeply cultivated donors, allowing us to close an additional 80 individual $1M+ gifts over a period of six months. Although this was a culminating event for the Museum, it took years to build the network to bring it to fruition.

A subsequent event at the National Museum of American History, overlooking the almost-completed NMAAHC, leveraged existing 2015 Society donors ($25K) to encourage others to give at the same level. To ensure it was a fundraising event, we asked all current 2015 Society donors if they wanted to co-host a fundraiser with the Museum. Co-hosts had the responsibility of making a $25K gift and a willingness to secure two new $25K gifts. Sixteen of the 89 2015 Society donors at the time agreed to co-host. This event resulted in us tripling the number of 2015 Society donors we had. 110 new $25K gifts were made leading into the event, and additional 100 $25K gifts closed after the event. Never underestimate the power of a fundraising host committee and their network!

Grand Opening itself was underwritten by five category-exclusive sponsors. By having Grand Opening underwritten, we could wholly utilize our Grand Opening events as exclusive stewardship opportunities for the generous donors who had made the Museum possible. Opening events were segmented by level to encourage even larger gifts:

Reception at the White House and recognition in the New York Times: $1M+ Music Legends concert at the Kennedy Center: $100K+ Tickets to the Grand Opening ceremony, dinner and reception: $5K+ and Charter Members

Grand Opening of NMAAHC took place on September 24, 2016, with a never-before-seen campaign behind it. What started as a hope and a dream of the Civil War veterans more than 100 years ago was shepherded into existence through relentless pursuit. It required vision, partnerships, programming, networking, leverage, accountability, persistence, the good will of philanthropists, Congressional support, and best practices in fundraising. It could not have happened without the support of Black institutions and thousands of first-time Black philanthropists. Each of us was fortunate to be selected to be a part of the team to bring the National Museum of African American History and Culture to fruition. Our work paid honor and tribute to our ancestors, and they, in turn, guided us along our journey.

I would like to acknowledge my NMAAHC frontline fundraiser colleagues, as this was truly a team effort: Adrienne Brooks (Director), Margaret Turner, Minda Logan, Nia Davis, Phyllis Cunningham, Princess Gamble, Thameenah Muhammad, and the internal development team that supported our fundraising efforts. Moreover, I would like to thank the 134 Founding Donors, 112 Major Contributors, 354 2015 Society Donors, 770 Ambassadors, and more than 200,000 Charter Members that contributed to this project by Grand Opening. With your support, the Museum was able to become a reality.

The Possibilities of Philanthropy

The story of the NMAAHC campaign is a stunning example of modern Black philanthropy. It demonstrates that the Black community and Black institutions have much more to give.

Black households already donate 25% more of their income each year than do white households. This is despite the fact that the average white family in the U.S. holds 10 times the net wealth of the average Black family. Black donors have philanthropic interests across all sectors of work: the environment, health, religion, education, climate change, and the arts, among others. Due to the historical inequities in society, Black donors will generally make investments in causes that directly or indirectly benefit and uplift the Black community.

Organizations that wish to benefit from Black philanthropy must be prepared to invest in:

Priorities and initiatives that directly or indirectly impact the Black community
Leadership, staff, and boards that are inclusive of Black representation and voice
Structures and staff that treat all donors with equal respect and dignity
Partnerships and collaborations that support Black institutions

These are investments that allow us, as organizations, to knit together a more complete picture of the American experience, just as the NMAAHC expanded our ability to tell a more complete American story.

From another perspective, there should be more intentional resources directly invested in Black institutions. Black institutions historically have been, and currently are, the catalysts for knowledge-building, upward mobility, social justice, and economic equality within the African American community, holding unmatched value and impact. Despite these positive results, these institutions continue to receive significantly less funding than their white organizational counterparts. Indeed, the campaign to fund NMAAHC would not have been possible without the brilliance that was cultivated and supported at Black institutions. If we are truly going to achieve the American ideal of an equitable and just society, donors and institutional partners must give, or give more generously, to Black institutions. The only way to remedy the wrongs of the past, is to make intentional investments in our future.

Above photo: Founding Donors Tony and Robyn Coles with Anna Barber overlooking the NMAAHC construction site in 2014.

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23 Examples of Impressive Museum Architecture

Written by AD Editorial Team
Published on May 18, 2017

Designing a museum is always an exciting architectural challenge. Museums often come with their own unique needs and constraints--from the art museum that needs specialist spaces for preserving works, to the huge collection that requires extensive archive space, and even the respected institution whose existing heritage building presents a challenge for any new extension. In honor of International Museum Day, we’ve selected 23 stand-out museums from our database, with each ArchDaily editor explaining what makes these buildings some of the best examples of museum architecture out there.

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / Barclay & Crousse

Why we're impressed: I think it fits right into an incredible landscape, updating vernacular operations and merging them with smart contemporary design decisions. In addition, the design incorporates a 'passive device' that improves the efficiency and comfort of the building through a single element, avoiding the use of a large number of complex systems. - José Tomás Franco, Materials Editor

See more photographs, drawings and a project description here .

China Academy of Arts’ Folk Art Museum / Kengo Kuma & Associates

Why we're impressed: This museum combines traditional techniques with recycled materials to create a subtle yet powerful structure. Kengo Kuma's work stands out because of its careful treatment of the landscape, working with materiality and structure as the main design pillars. The project celebrates a duality in the Chinese culture of today: modern construction techniques versus tradition and handcraft. - Fernanda Castro, Projects Editor

Kunstmuseum Basel / Christ & Gantenbein

Why we're impressed: A standout museum thanks to its eye-catching, high-tech frieze, the Kunstmuseum Basel is a monochromatic masterpiece – an exceptional exercise in the combination of similarly-hued materials to create depth, shadow and texture. - Becky Quintal, Head of Content

Miho Museum / I.M. Pei

Why we're impressed : For me, the Miho Museum by I.M. Pei is his masterpiece. Through its insertion on the site and the “architectural promenade” along it, the museum generates a series of unique experiences and moments, a synthesis of what architecture should be. - David Basulto, Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Fan Zeng Art Gallery / Original Design Studio

23 Examples of Impressive Museum Architecture - Image 17 of 24

Why we're impressed: A building that follows Chinese traditions through the type of spaces rather than the use of materials: Three different courtyards articulate the main spaces creating a sequence of exhibitions between the interior and exterior. - Diego Hernández, Projects Editor

Sonorous Museum Copenhagen / CREO ARKITEKTER + ADEPT

Why we're impressed: Museums need to adapt to the new generation of visitors. What better way to interpret these needs than by designing designated interactive classrooms that provide a hands-on experience of classical musical instruments and their sound spectra, all within the comfort of the carefully chosen colors and patterns of the acoustic walls? - Amanda Pimenta, Social Media Editor

Allmannajuvet Zinc Mine Museum / Peter Zumthor

Why we're impressed: An interesting museum is understood in the experience of the route and in the interaction between the visitor and the exhibition of cultural value. In the Allmannajuvet Zinc Mine Museum, these two components are evident: a unique and impressive natural route through a site with high historical value that is not only reflected in an individual object, but in the entire context. - Fabián Dejtiar, Editor, Plataforma Arquitectura

El MA: Museo de la Memoria de Andalucía / Alberto Campo Baeza

Why we're impressed: A museum that transmits the entire history of Andalusia as a monolithic screen in Granada – El MA creates a spatial tension with the rest of the city, as evidenced in the central courtyard where circular ramps rise and from the crown with an astounding overview of Granada. - Nicolás Valencia, Editor, Plataforma Arquitectura

Corning Museum of Glass / Thomas Phifer and Partners

Why we're impressed: As natural light filters in from between the impossibly thin structural concrete beams, the walls and floors seem to dissolve away, leaving the perfect pure backdrop for the museum's collection of vibrant and surprising contemporary glass artworks. - Patrick Lynch, News Editor

AD Classics: São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) / Lina Bo Bardi

Why we're impressed: The most iconic musem in Brazil. A masterpiece from Lina Bo Bardi located on a very complex site in terms of urban density, flow and topography. - Romullo Baratto Fontenelle, Editor, ArchDaily Brasil

Museo Jumex / David Chipperfield Architects

Why we're impressed: Though not a particularly large museum, Museo Jumex offers three unique gallery spaces that allow for the program to include a range of exhibition types. The building's design is timeless and subtle enough not to compete with the contemporary art it harbors, yet with a definite character that allows it to stand out among the hypermodern buildings of Plaza Carso. - Karina Zatarain, Editor, ArchDaily México

Xi'an Westin Museum Hotel / Neri & Hu Design and Research Office

Why we're impressed: In this museum, the apparent heaviness of the architectural volumes is juxtaposed against light elements to create sublime and unique spaces to express art. The innovative mixed program contrasts with the material intentions, which adopt the profile of vernacular Chinese architecture. - María Francisca González, Projects Editor

Museum of Modern Literature / David Chipperfield Architects

Why we're impressed: Completed in 2006, the Museum of Modern Literature is a textbook example of David Chipperfield's work that shows why he is such a revered figure. The resolution of Chipperfield's light minimalism and the clear classical inspirations complement the adjacent Schiller National Museum perfectly. - Rory Stott, Managing Editor

Fondation Louis Vuitton / Gehry Partners

Why we're impressed: Gehry's structures (with the help of his computer software) provide just the right fit for exhibition spaces – a great combination of material, form and light. Referencing the tradition of 19th-century glass garden buildings, Gehry selected glass as the main material for the envelope, creating a perfect dialogue with the Jardin. - Diego Hernández, Projects Editor

Nadir Afonso Contemporary Art Museum / Álvaro Siza Vieira

Why we're impressed: Eduardo Souto de Moura thinks it's one of the best buildings designed by Siza. When compared to other common museums, this project has two distinctions: it's elevated to combat the regular flooding that occurs due to its proximity to the Tâmega River, and it makes a strong connection to the surrounding landscape and local history. Once you are inside the interior spaces, you can see the fields and the old, partially demolished stone walls that provide a reminder of the former vocation of the area. - Victor Delaqua, Editor, ArchDaily Brasil

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture / Adjaye Associates

Why we're impressed: Given its location on Washington DC's national mall, it's not hard to argue that the NMAAHC is, culturally-speaking at least, among the most important US buildings of the 20th Century. The design by Freelon Adjaye Bond / SmithGroup JJR rises to this challenge, working within the limitations set by the surrounding context while also using the building's content as inspiration for a truly unique and refreshing design. - Rory Stott, Managing Editor

Arts Centre - Casa Das Mudas / Paulo David

Why we're impressed: Both volume and materials seem to suggest that the building integrates and privileges nature. Its careful implantation at the top of the hill on the sea gives the building an unimposing quality, functioning instead as topography itself. The architects seem to have learned from Siza how to dramatically open up views, creating spectacular landscape framings. - Eduardo Souza, Editor, ArchDaily Brasil

Museu dos Coches / Paulo Mendes da Rocha + MMBB Arquitetos + Bak Gordon Arquitectos

23 Examples of Impressive Museum Architecture - Image 21 of 24

Why we're impressed: An interesting result from the collaboration between Paulo Mendes da Rocha , Ricardo Bak Gordon and MMBB. The raw, austere structure creates a clear background for the museum subject: old wagons. In terms of volume and mass, the museum consists of a main pavilion and a second structure which hosts the entrance, restaurant and auditorium, all connected by an elevated walkway that creates a portico over the public plaza. - Romullo Baratto Fontenelle, Editor, ArchDaily Brasil

MAAT / AL_A

Why we're impressed: MAAT was designed by the English architect Amanda Levete with the organic and futuristic lines for which the architect is recognized. Located at the edge of the Tejo River, the project snakes along the site organically like a creature with ceramic scales, alluding to Portuguese tradition and simultaneously breaking from the usual formal paradigms of the Portuguese school. An abundance of technologies applied in its construction allow for versatility and innovative compositions of the exhibition areas. The project adapts to the environment in a delicate and subtle way, reconnecting the river with the city. - Joanna Helm, Head of Content, ArchDaily Brasil

The Whitney Museum of American Art at Gansevoort / Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Why we're impressed: Despite the fact that most architects tend to prefer the original Whitney Museum by Marcel Breuer , the new Whitney is an amazing building for exhibitions – its flexibility providing visitors with a different experience each time they step foot in the museum. Additionally, the outdoor circulation between terraces offers expansive views of the city and contributes to a museum path that is not confined to the building itself, but to New York as a whole. - Diego Hernández, Projects Editor

The Broad Museum / Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Why we're impressed: Diller Scofidio + Renfro's design for the Broad was driven by two key concepts: first, the much-publicized idea of "the veil and the vault" which controlled the project's organizational layout and structure; second, the idea of the visitor experience, which culminated in the building's main route up an escalator to the exhibition floor and then back down a set of stairs where the public gets a glimpse of the museum's archive. This focus on a simple logic and on visitor experience has made The Broad one of LA's most popular museums. - Rory Stott, Managing Editor

Tippet Rise Art Center

Why we're impressed: I think a museum is defined by how it highlights the art exhibited. Whether using a built construction or simply positioning landmarks in an open field, it's all about the experience of 'living' the art. The experimental Tippet Rise Art Center may not keep its work under a roof, but works such as Structures of Landscape designed by ENSAMBLE STUDIO are all the more powerful for it; their work is simple poetry, turning elements of the land itself into landscape art. - Danae Santbáñez, Projects Editor

See more photographs here .

Harvard Art Museums Renovation and Expansion / Renzo Piano + Payette

Why we're impressed: The renovation of the listed Fogg Museum – a neighbor of Le Corbusier's revered Carpenter Center –had all the ingredients required for a potential controversy. But Renzo Piano and Payette's clever project capitalized on the existing building's best traits, reimagining the central courtyard as a civic-minded, light-filled atrium, while the extension itself was sensitive enough to both the Fogg Museum and its neighbor that few took issue with the changes. - Rory Stott, Managing Editor

See more than 450 museums at http://www.archdaily.com/search/projects/categories/museum

ArchDaily Editors Select 20 Amazing 21st Century Museums In honor of International Museum Day we've collected twenty fascinating museums well worth visiting again. In this round up you'll find classics - such as Bernard Tschumi Architects' New Acropolis Museum andZaha Hadid Architects' MAXXI Museum - as well as lesser-known gems - such as Waterford City Council Architects' Medieval Museum , the Natural History Museum of Utah by , and the by.

ArchDaily Editors Select 20 (More) Amazing 21st Century Museums In honor of International Museum Day we've collected twenty compelling museum projects. In this round up you'll find a truly global selection; from Wang Shu's Ningbo Historic Museum in China and Tod Williams + Billie Tsien's Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia to Monoblock's Contemporary Art Museum in Buenos Aires, see all of our editors' favorites after the break!

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The MA: Andalucia's Museum of Memory / Alberto Campo Baeza. Image © Javier Callejas

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Christie and SDVoE bring culture to life at Korean museum

In an age where technology and personalization of cultural consumption have experienced rapid growth, the National Museum of Korea (NMK) – the largest museum in Korea with over 220,000 objects in its collection – has taken steps to evolve from a space for exhibiting valuable artifacts to becoming a source of cultural inspiration for the future.

In 2019, NMK kicked off its ‘Smart Museum’ initiative, which included an Immersive Digital Gallery comprising four attractions that leverage a range of leading-edge 3D visual technology to emulate a physical world through digital means.

“Through the creation of this Immersive Digital Gallery, we hope to move visitors beyond technology to rediscover the values of various exhibits and share them with others,” said Eun-jeong Chang, curator, NMK. “This gallery is positioned as a new space that enables people to seek knowledge, fun, and relaxation whilst serving as a bridge that leads to our rich cultural heritage spanning thousands of years.”

Christie’s trusted partner Star Networks, which delivered several highly-acclaimed large scale projects in Kore including the world’s first robot theme park – Gyeongnam Masan Robot Land – was appointed by NMK to set up the projection, media servers, transmission and surround audio components in the largest space of the Immersive Digital Gallery, known as Gallery 1. It features mesmerizing, 8K resolution content displayed on an ultra-wide panorama screen measuring 60 meters in length and 5 meters in height.

After conducting a detailed survey and evaluating various factors including color fidelity, image detail and reliability, Star Networks decided to deploy a suite of Christie’s projection, image processing and SDVoE solutions in Gallery 1. This included eight Christie D20WU-HS 1DLP® laser projectors, two Christie Pandoras Box Quad Players, a Pandoras Box Player, a Pandoras Box Manager and Widget Designer, as well as eight sets of Christie Terra Transmitters and Receivers as part of the SDVoE solution.

“We needed a fully integrated solution that not only delivers excellent visuals and color fidelity, but also a powerful content management and AV-over-IP system that offers long-term reliability since all products are fitted in a high-use environment,” said Eun-jin Park, section chief, Star Networks. “The Christie solutions are our top choice because they fulfilled all the requirements and have a good track record of delivering outstanding visuals. I don’t think there is another solution on the market that can match this suite of products in terms of performance, level of integration and dependability.”

Visitors can enjoy bright and beautiful panoramic projections in this space, such as those depicting a Joseon king’s procession in ‘Royal Procession with the People’, or admire breathtaking sceneries depicted in Jeong Seon’s masterpiece ‘Climbing Mt. Geumgang’. Other engaging digital projections include ‘Journey of the Soul: Walking Through the Eternal Cycle of Birth, Death, and Rebirth’ that allow visitors to experience the Buddhist view of the afterlife through various paintings, and ‘Banquet of Taoist Immortals’ which impressively replicates the mystical world of eight immortals in ancient folklore.

In addition, MappScreen used the Christie Terra AV-over-IP solution to extend audio, video, as well as embedded time code, (thanks to the built-in synchronization and metadata support) using fibre cable between FOH and the VJ’s desk on stage. “We are more than happy with Terra. If Terra didn’t exist, we would have had to use conventional fibre transmitters and receivers, with an equal amount of RJ45 cable to extend the VJs time code,” Cruz Rubio concluded.

Meticulous production of contents based on valuable paintings

Throughout the installation process, Star Networks worked closely with celebrated VFX and CG animation studio MOFAC, appointed as the prime systems integrator and content creator of this project, to ensure that the hardware and visual content are perfectly integrated and synchronized to offer visitors the definitive experience in Gallery 1.

Over a period of eight months, MOFAC meticulously produced a series of specially curated content in collaboration with NMK and the Korea Creative Content Agency. These include digital re-creations of some of Korea’s most famous paintings such as ‘Climbing Mt. Geumgang’, and ‘Royal Procession with the People’.

Yoon-soo Go, project manager, MOFAC, explained that due to the characteristics of the content created by reconstructing traditional Korean paintings, the original copies had to be scanned in high resolution, followed by making the objects that appear in these artworks in 3D. After that, texture mapping was performed with the original image for 3D modelling. The results are highly detailed images with a jaw-dropping resolution of 14K.

“In the fifinal step, the content is displayed using cutting-edge visual technology so that even the finest details can stand out. I’m pleased to note that the Christie HS Series projectors have accomplished this brilliantly. Also, Christie Pandoras Box and Terra solutions delivered high resolution images and stunning colors with perfect synchronization. This is a fine example of the capabilities of a fully integrated, end-to-end, high performance solution,” Go added.

Historical works of art ‘come alive’

The Immersive Digital Gallery was officially opened to the public in late May following the reopening of NMK after a three-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NMK’s Chang recounted that audiences who stepped into Gallery 1 are enthralled by the vivid and highly immersive content. “We have received lots of positive feedback from visitors, and many of them are in awe of the quality of the visuals and how historical works of art can ‘come alive’ so convincingly in a real physical space. It’s gratifying that the integrated technologies implemented in this space have provided an enchanting experience that transports visitors across time and space,” she noted.

“Through the successful completion of this project, we are proud that Christie’s laser projection, image processing and SDVoE solutions have been established as the benchmark for challenging immersive content in many museums in the future,” said Park, who added that the technical experience gained by Star Networks team will enable them to provide progressive solutions to more customers in the future.

Commenting on the use of highly engaging content for museum exhibits, MOFAC’s Go enthused that the advancement of technologies has created new possibilities for the promotion of cultural heritage among younger people and tech-savvy individuals. He said, “It is an exciting and fulfilling task for content creators to bring these cultural artifacts to life, and through this process enable everyone to admire and enjoy our cultural heritage in greater depth.”

Christie Terra enables the transport, switching, processing and control of audiovisual content, including 4K at 60Hz video formats, over 10G Ethernet networks. Built on standardized SDVoE technology, Christie Terra provides unprecedented performance capabilities including the delivery of uncompressed, zero-frame latency, artifact-free video over readily available and affordable 10G components. Based on off-the-shelf 10G Ethernet components, the Terra solution allows for the design of simple, secured, flexible and highly scalable system architectures that offer the best performance and user experience over current approaches at a drastically lower total cost of ownership.

Benefits of SDVoE Technology

SDVoE reaches beyond existing standards to provide benefits no other technology can claim:

A complete ecosystem – SDVoE Alliance members are manufacturers with expertise in signal distribution, display manufacture, IT infrastructure, chip design and AV software. The integrator has dozens of partners to align with and products to choose from.
A flexible yet simple software platform – the SDVoE API allows rapid development of highly specialized software, custom-tailored to the needs of a vast array of end users.
A full OSI stack solution – only SDVoE offers the simplicity of a complete top to bottom solution, fully encompassing infrastructure, transport, processing, and a simple control layer.

About Christie

Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. is a global visual and audio technologies company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio Inc., Japan (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world’s most advanced projectors, complete system displays, and cinema audio solutions; Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images, accompanied by awe-inspiring sound.

For more information about Christie’s Terra line of SDVoE solutions, visit www.christiedigital.com .

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Korea.

DLP® is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments. “Christie” is a trademark of Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc., registered in the United States of America and certain other countries. SDVoE is a trademark of the SDVoE Alliance. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Issue 3, Vol 1

Museuming Modern Art NGMA: The Indian Case-Study

This brief essay on India’s National Gallery of Modern Art traces the early years of the institution from when it was set up in 1954. It was an important site for the art world as much as for the newly independent nation state declaring its commitment to modernity.

In recent years there has been a considerable interest in Indian museums and their relationship to audiences. Appadurai and Breckenridge in their seminal essay ‘Museums are Good to Think’ look at the museum’s role in the “elaboration of the public sphere in non-western nations.” 1 The authors are interested in the transformation of the museum site under global impulses where “new visual formations link heritage politics to spectacle, tourism and entertainment.” 2 The sub-category of the art museum, however, does not present them with many possibilities when it comes to mapping contemporary public gaze in Indian life. They write, “…Except for a small minority in India and for a very short period of its history and in very few museums there, art in the current western sense is not a meaningful category…. In place of art other categories of objects dominate, such as handicraft, technology, history and heritage.” 3

While not disputing the marginality of the art museum in terms of the general public it draws, in the Indian institutional landscape, this essay chooses precisely such an institution that focuses on the category of ‘art’. This emblematic institution, the only of its kind, was set up in 1954 by the Government of India. From 1938 when such an institution was first proposed by an artist-based organisation, the All India Fine Arts and Craft Society (AIFACS), through the sub-sequent artists’ conferences that delineated the nature and scope of this institution, to its establishment by the government in 1954, and through the political leadership and the museum directors that determined its contours, and of course the parallel developments in art practice that it was trying to account for and represent, the NGMA has been subject to different pressures and imaginings. In the course of this unfolding history it has grappled with ideas of modernism, nationalism, tradition and internationalism and equally tried to address questions of identity and Indian-ness.

Proposing a National Art Gallery – The AIFACS Version

By early 20th century one can see a complex relay of styles, institutions, publications and exhibitions emerging in the Indian art scene. And it is from within this community of artists and critics that the first demands of a national art gallery were made. Unlike the National Museum which was a key project for a government body like the Archaeological Survey of India from 1912 onwards, the first proposal for a National Art Gallery was made by a Delhi-based artists’ organisation, the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), in 1938. In the subsequent years, however, AIFACS claims were diluted by the factions that arose amongst the artists, with the newly set up All India Association of Fine Arts, Bombay putting forth its own agency as a central organisation at the Third All India Art conference in 19484. The All India Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, also proposed converting the Arts Section of the Indian Museum into a National Art Gallery.

It was left to the 1949 Art Conference at Calcutta, organised by Government of India, to resolve the matter once and for all. The Conference called for the formation of a Central Advisory Board of Art (formed in 1950) and passed a resolution for the early establishment of National Art Gallery and the improvement of National Museum as well as the formation of the three Akademis as part of a Sub Commission for Culture of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO.

The first attempt at the setting up of the National Art Gallery was made by an artist group whose founders owed their allegiance to the Bengal School and were, in keeping with the School’s ideals, keen to institutionalise the category of ‘national art’. The Bengal Schools move to identify an indigenist form of art with national sovereignty had a specific function in the anticolonial struggle. But with the passage of time, agendas had shifted, and from imagining itself as a site of resistance, India was now assuming a new authority as a post-colonial nation. AIFACS tried to address this shift by envisaging an art museum based on mass support, which organised art exhibitions as appendages to official conferences and meetings, and devised pragmatic roles for artists as makers of public commemorative art and assistants in government-driven mass education schemes. But the category of the national modern was being recalibrated by various members of the artist community, and above all by the state, and the museum would now be taken on a different course.

Institutionalising the Modern

Already by 1947-48 there were signs of the state’s interest in this project with Nehru personally intervening in the major purchase of the Amrita Sher-Gil collection and the more minor one of a few Brunner paintings. 5 These, among other moves, by the Indian state in general and Nehru in particular, made evident the desire to centralise and nationalise the modern art museum.

Meanwhile another sequence was unfolding at the Burlington House, London with the ceremonial 1947-1948 exhibition titled ‘The Arts of India and Pakistan.’ Organised by Royal Academy of Art, to mark the transfer of power in British India, it was followed by another version of the exhibition, ‘Masterpieces of Indian Art,’ at the Government House, New Delhi in the winter of 1948. In her extensive essay on these ceremonial exhibitions that eventually led to the formation of the National Museum, Tapati Guha-Thakurta shows how the London exhibition was bracketed by sections on ‘British Artists in India’ at the start, and ‘Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures’ at the end. 6 The catalogue rather apologetically acknowledged a motley section of Bengal school, Amrita Sher-Gil, Zainul Abedin, N S Bendre, F N Souza, Dhanraj Bhagat and Kanwal Krishna, which were “nothing comparable in aesthetic interest with the great achievements of Indian sculptors,” 7 but were included nonetheless to present a complete image of Indian art abroad. However, neither of these sections was carried over to the subsequent exhibition held in New Delhi at the Government House. Here one sees a definite exclusion of the modern from “this spectacle of India’s art heritage. …and we find ourselves fully in the grips of an art historical past.” 8 The modern was bypassed and the great nation was conjured exclusively through its ancient and medieval art heritage.

While the mandate of the ‘national’ was being handed to the art objects from India’s great past, the state had a different role in mind for modern art and by extension the NGMA. It was seen as one among a series of cultural institutions that were set up in the post-colonial landscape of the 1940s-50s which served to dislodge the modern from the discourse of the national. Geeta Kapur notes how culture becomes an important means to disentangle the modern from the nationalist polemic. “The latter had often to speak in the name of tradition even as it covertly strengthened the desire for the modern. While national struggle had attempted to simulate a civilisational quest, the nation state was bound to privilege culture as a means of cohering contemporaniety.” 9 Under Nehru’s leadership a whole set of institutions were founded that carried the overall mandate of the modern. They were part of what Partha Chatterjee terms India’s statist utopia. 10

National Gallery of Modern Art was formally inaugurated by the Vice President of India, Dr S Radhakrishnan, on March 29, 1954 in New Delhi. It was located in Jaipur House which had been originally built as the winter palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur in the 1930s. German scholar and museologist Hermann Goetz was brought over from the Baroda Museum where he had been the director between 1943 and 1954, and given charge of the institution. The Gallery opened with an exhibition of contemporary sculpture apart from showcasing its initial collection of around 200 works which consisted of paintings by Amrita Sher-Gil, Rabindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose and MAR Chugtai, among others. The works displayed at the sculpture exhibition also doubled as the First National Exhibition of Modern Art 11 and sculptor D P Roy Chowdhury’s Triumph of Labour won the first prize and was commissioned to be made as a public sculpture on the lawns of the museum.

National Gallery of Modern Art – The Sher-Gil Collection

The core of the NGMA collection was without doubt a suite of 96 paintings by artist Amrita Sher-Gil that came into the hands of the state as early as 1948. In many ways, it is this cache of paintings that determined the course of the institution. The search for a reconfigured national modern that could translate the impulses and the potential of the ‘new paradigm’ found resolution, as much by design as by default, in the figure of Amrita Sher-Gil 12 .

In 1947 when Amrita Sher-Gil’s husband Dr Victor Eagen offered 33 paintings to the Government of India for sale, the Finance Ministry rejected the proposal to procure the collection given the price. The matter might have ended prematurely but for the insistence of Sher-Gil’s father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, who was keen to remove the paintings from Eagen’s possession. Umrao Singh offered to gift a large body of Sher-Gil’s works to the nation but on the precondition that the latter was able to obtain the paintings in her husband’s collection. In a letter to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, dated 23 April 1948, Umrao Singh wrote, “Most of her earlier juvenile work, when she was at School of Art in Paris, is with us. We wish to give them freely to the nation, along with sketches and studies which Amrita had intended to destroy. They serve along with her early works to show the development of her art and talent…. But if her later works are not actually acquired by our nation, then what good will the old style work, which she herself did not value, be.” 13

At this point, Nehru intervened to ensure the acquisition of the Sher-Gil paintings. He also took up the matter with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, on March 7, 1948, “I think it desirable for government to acquire her paintings as a whole. Just a few chosen ones would not be good enough. It would be possible to get the paintings from Amrita’s parents without payment provided we make it clear we are getting the collection from the others also. As for the husband, he is not very well off and can easily sell them separately and may well do so if we delay.” 14

Thus we see a number of events converging–ranging from Sher-Gil’s charismatic artistic persona and untimely death, the subsequent family feud and Nehru’s personal intervention in resolving it, the sheer range of the collection, the fragile material conditions of many works– to place the Sher-Gil collection at the centre of the Gallery, six years before its actual formation.

In 1953, the Gallery had a nucleus of 163 paintings consisting predominantly of Amrita Sher-Gil paintings, apart from collections of the other ‘three pioneering modernists’–Rabindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy and Gaganendranath Tagore. The press reviews of the opening of NGMA in 1954 lavished praise on the Sher-Gil rooms (the only air conditioned rooms in the Gallery because of the fragile material conditions of the paintings) for their complete chronological display. Art critic Charles Fabri wrote, “The glory of the collection is Amrita Sher-Gil…. Paintings that are from her childhood to her years in Hungary, Budapest and Paris, right upto her last, unfinished canvas found on her easel.” 15

In the initial years the Sher-Gil collection, which came into its possession much before the formation of the actual institution, made the Gallery align with a modernist practice that was progressive, cosmopolitan and in conversation with an international modernism. It was a practice that was supported by a generation of powerful writers and intellectuals like Mulk Raj Anand and W G Archer who were close to the political establishment. But despite this ‘solid core of greatness,’ 16 the emphasis within the Gallery remained on marking the moments of modernism’s origin. Accordingly, it enshrined the four initiators of modern art in India, Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy and Gaganendranath Tagore, even as the new generation of Progressive Artists’ Groups sprung up all over the country. The mandate of making sense of the current art movements was handed over to another cultural institution set up in the same year as NGMA – Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) – which was an autonomous body governed by artists, scholars and government nominees but without any government interference in its activities. The NGMA thus absolved itself from needing to respond to current art scene or the needs of the artists, working with a more classical understanding of a museum as a historical and highly insulated institution. The LKA played the role of the democratic state institution responding to the artists’ needs – showcasing latest trends with its annual national exhibitions and creating a climate of state patronage that gave equal representation to different schools and movements. The success and failure of this enterprise is, of course, another story.

The text is an excerpt from the essay ‘Museumising Modern Art, NGMA: the Indian Case-Study’ to be published in the upcoming volume tentatively titled No Touching No Spitting No Praying: Museum Cultures of South Asia, Routledge, edited by Dr Kavita Singh and Dr Saloni Mathur.

References and Footnotes

Arjun Appadurai & Carol Breckenridge, ‘Museums are Good to Think’, in Representing the Nation: A Reader, Eds. David Boswell & Jessica Evans, Routledge, London & New York, 1999, p. 418
Ibid, p. 406
The All India Association of Fine Arts, Bombay was set up in 1946 with G Venkatachalam as president and members like Karl Khandalvala. The Association organised the 3rd All India Conference for Arts in 1948 because it noted that the first two conferences in Delhi had not been able to form a central art organisation that was wholly representative. They received a sum of Rs 21 lakhs for arts, education and cultural activities from the Government of Bombay. They declared that arts did not depend on official support alone but needed individuals and groups to come together spontaneously. If AIFACS was interested in being an official body, AIFACS was asking for the status of an autonomous artist association.
B P Singh, ‘Arts, Cultural Pageants and the state: The Nehru-Azad Dialogue’, India’s Culture, the State, the Arts and Beyond, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2009, p. 100 – 111. Singh looks into the purchase of the Brunner paintings by Jawaharlal Nehru. In June 1948, the PM visited Nainital and chanced upon paintings of two Hungarian artists Sass Brunner and her daughter Elizabeth Brunner. Touched by their sensitivity, he purchased a few of them including the one of Mahatma Gandhi in meditation, for his own collection. On his return to Delhi, he wrote to Abul Kalam Azad (14 June, 1948) recommending the paintings be acquired by Government of India. Azad referred the matter to the Ministry of Education (MOE) who solicited the help of R N Chakravarty, chief artist in Publications Division, MOE, and Barada Ukil for their opinions on the paintings. Both stated that the works were mediocre and did not deserve the price being asked. Nehru joined in to counter this assessment of the artists. The matter finally ended with the Government of India buying the works but not before the Ministry of Finance emphasised the need for prior clearance before making any financial commitments. It eventually led to the constitution of the art purchase committee for museums under the chairmanship of Vice President of India, with experts like Moti Chandra, Karl Khandalvala, Rai Krishnadas and others.
Tapati Guha-Thakurta, ‘The Demands of Independence: From a National Exhibition to a National Museum’, Monuments, Objects, Histories: Institutions of Art in Colonial and Post-Colonial India , Columbia University Press, New York and Permanent Black, New Delhi, 2004, p 277
Ibid. quoted by Guha-Thakurta from the catalogue Exhibition of Art, chiefly from the Dominions of India and Pakistan, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London, 1947-48, (London: Royal Academy, 1947) p. 192 – 195 held at the Government House
Ibid. p 274 9. Geeta Kapur, ‘Sovereign Subject: Ray’s Appu’, When was Modernism, Essays on Contemporary Cultural Practice in India, Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2000, p. 202
Ibid p. 201
The competition is referred to in the Hindustan Standard , 7 July 1957
The flamboyant artist of mixed Indo–Hungarian parentage, Amrita Sher-Gil studied at the Ecole des Beaux, Paris, between 1929 and 1934. In ’33 she exhibited at the Grand Salon, where she won a medal for her painting Young Girls and was also elected an Associate. She returned to India at the end of 1934, taking on the mantle of an Indian artist. She died at the very young age of 29 in December 1941, a few days before her major solo exhibition in Lahore. Her death was mourned at an almost national scale and public figures like Nehru and Gandhi sent condolences to the Sher-Gil family.
Letter by Umrao Singh Sher-Gil to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister of Education, GOI, dated 23 April 1948, F.178–16/48–G–2, National Archives, New Delhi, unpublished
Ibid, letter by Nehru to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister of Education, TOI dated 7 March, 1948 15. Charles Fabri, ‘review of NGMA opening’, Marg , Volume 8, No. 3, 2nd Quarter, 1954
File on W G Archer’s letter to Ashfaque Husain, F.3-112/54 – A.2, National Archives, Government of India, 1954, unpublished. W G Archer, who had served from 1931 – 1948 as a civil servant in India, returned to England after India’s independence to become the Keeper of the Indian collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Well respected for his research and scholarship on Indian folk, popular and miniature traditions, as well modern art, he was commissioned between January 2 and March 26, 1954 by the Ministry of Education to conduct a three month survey of national, state and art galleries and provide suggestions for their better administration. Archer complimented the government on its Sher-Gil collection which he described as “a superb achievement, giving the Gallery a solid core of greatness”. At the same time, he stated candidly, “It has to be remembered that the actual number of living artists whose works really deserve to be represented is probably small and it takes a great deal of courage to recognise originality.”

About Author

Vidya Shivadas is a curator and art critic based in New Delhi. Working at the Vadehra Art Gallery since 2002, she has curated exhibitions like Faiza Butt, Ruby Chishti, Masooma Syed (three Pakistani women artists) (April 2009), Fluid Structures: Gender and Abstraction in India (1970s â€“ 2008) (April 2008), Objects: Making/Unmaking (April 2007) and Are We Like This Only (March 2005). In 2009 she was a guest curator at Devi Art Foundation and worked on the solo exhibition of Bangladeshi artist Mahbubur Rahman. In her researcher capacity, she is interested in the relationship between art institutions and art practice.

February 2024

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity. While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration. Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way. The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow. The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum. Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide. What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater. You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure . I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history. It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River. Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin. Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention. The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper. Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station. Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action. The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases). Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur. It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city. The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life. Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature . The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile. However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment. Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections. At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again). Chrome borders all. Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft. There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects. Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display. By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry. The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform. The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns. The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students. Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success. Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing. At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45. Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics. This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area. Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market. The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in. The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya. Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya. At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north. Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center. Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii. Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala. For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits: SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

For the first time Rosatom Fuel Division supplied fresh nuclear fuel to the world’s only floating nuclear cogeneration plant in the Arctic

The fuel was supplied to the northernmost town of Russia along the Northern Sea Route.

The first in the history of the power plant refueling, that is, the replacement of spent nuclear fuel with fresh one, is planned to begin before 2024. The manufacturer of nuclear fuel for all Russian nuclear icebreakers, as well as the Akademik Lomonosov FNPP, is Machinery Manufacturing Plant, Joint-Stock Company (MSZ JSC), a company of Rosatom Fuel Company TVEL that is based in Elektrostal, Moscow Region.

The FNPP includes two KLT-40S reactors of the icebreaking type. Unlike convenient ground-based large reactors (that require partial replacement of fuel rods once every 12-18 months), in the case of these reactors, the refueling takes place once every few years and includes unloading of the entire reactor core and loading of fresh fuel into the reactor.

The cores of KLT-40 reactors of the Akademik Lomonosov floating power unit have a number of advantages compared to the reference ones: a cassette core was used for the first time in the history of the unit, which made it possible to increase the fuel energy resource to 3-3.5 years between refuelings, and also reduce the fuel component of the electricity cost by one and a half times. The FNPP operating experience formed the basis for the designs of reactors for nuclear icebreakers of the newest series 22220. Three such icebreakers have been launched by now.

For the first time the power units of the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant were connected to the grid in December 2019, and put into commercial operation in May 2020. The supply of nuclear fuel from Elektrostal to Pevek and its loading into the second reactor is planned for 2024. The total power of the Akademik Lomonosov FNPP, supplied to the coastal grid of Pevek without thermal energy consumption on shore, is about 76 MW, being about 44 MW in the maximum thermal power supply mode. The FNPP generated 194 million kWh according to the results of 2023. The population of Pevek is just a little more than 4 thousand, while the FNPP has a potential for supplying electricity to a city with a population of up to 100 thousand people. After the FNPP commissioning two goals were achieved. These include first of all the replacement of the retiring capacities of the Bilibino NPP, which has been operating since 1974, as well as the Chaunskaya TPP, which has already been operating for more than 70 years. Secondly, energy is supplied to the main mining companies in western Chukotka in the Chaun-Bilibino energy hub a large ore and metal cluster, including gold mining companies and projects related to the development of the Baimsk ore zone. In September 2023, a 110 kilovolt power transmission line with a length of 490 kilometers was put into operation, connecting the towns of Pevek and Bilibino. The line increased the reliability of energy supply from the FNPP to both Bilibino consumers and mining companies, the largest of which is the Baimsky GOK. The comprehensive development of the Russian Arctic is a national strategic priority. To increase the NSR traffic is of paramount importance for accomplishment of the tasks set in the field of cargo shipping. This logistics corridor is being developed due regular freight voyages, construction of new nuclear-powered icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom companies are actively involved in this work. Rosatom Fuel Company TVEL (Rosatom Fuel Division) includes companies fabricating nuclear fuel, converting and enriching uranium, manufacturing gas centrifuges, conducting researches and producing designs. As the only nuclear fuel supplier to Russian NPPs, TVEL supplies fuel for a total of 75 power reactors in 15 countries, for research reactors in nine countries, as well as for propulsion reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet. Every sixth power reactor in the world runs on TVEL fuel. Rosatom Fuel Division is the world’s largest producer of enriched uranium and the leader on the global stable isotope market. The Fuel Division is actively developing new businesses in chemistry, metallurgy, energy storage technologies, 3D printing, digital products, and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. TVEL also includes Rosatom integrators for additive technologies and electricity storage systems. Rosenergoatom, Joint-Stock Company is part of Rosatom Electric Power Division and one of the largest companies in the industry acting as an operator of nuclear power plants. It includes, as its branches, 11 operating NPPs, including the FNPP, the Scientific and Technical Center for Emergency Operations at NPPs, Design and Engineering as well as Technological companies. In total, 37 power units with a total installed capacity of over 29.5 GW are in operation at 11 nuclear power plants in Russia. Machinery Manufacturing Plant, Joint-Stock Company (MSZ JSC, Elektrostal) is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fuel for nuclear power plants. The company produces fuel assemblies for VVER-440, VVER-1000, RBMK-1000, BN-600,800, VK-50, EGP-6; powders and fuel pellets intended for supply to foreign customers. It also produces nuclear fuel for research reactors. The plant belongs to the TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom.

Rosatom obtained a license for the first land-based SMR in Russia

On April 21, Rosenergoatom obtained a license issued by Rostekhnadzor to construct the Yakutsk land-based SMR in the Ust-Yansky District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

ROSATOM and FEDC agree to cooperate in the construction of Russia's first onshore SNPP

ROSATOM and FEDC have signed a cooperation agreement to build Russia's first onshore SNPP in Yakutia.

Rosatom develops nuclear fuel for modernized floating power units

Rosatom has completed the development of nuclear fuel for the RITM-200S small modular reactor designed for the upgraded floating power units.

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