The Netherlands - The Hermitage Amsterdam: Carousel of treasures
The Dutch queen and the Russian president watched as fireworks soared above the River Amstel. The Hermitage Amsterdam, a new museum for exhibiting loans of Russian art, was officially open, with an inaugural show entitled “At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the XIXth Century”. The evening’s celebrations were televised live. Local residents seemed uniformly pleased, proud and relieved. At last a museum success story.
Amsterdam is famous for its outstanding galleries. However, the Rijksmuseum has been under reconstruction since 2003 and the Stedelijk, with its internationally celebrated collection of modern art, since 2004. Their reopening, pushed back repeatedly, appears to be years away. But the Hermitage Amsterdam, the radically renovated Amstelhof (a nursing home from its construction in the 17th century until 2007) was on budget, at €40m ($56m), and speedy, taking just two years to complete. The running costs will be covered by ticket sales and corporate sponsors. The St Petersburg Hermitage will receive €1 from each full-price entry. Ernst Veen, a cultural entrepreneur, masterminded the scheme and is now the museum’s director.
No comments:
Post a Comment