Facelift for the Musée d’Orsay
Twenty-three years after its opening, the Musée d’Orsay, former railroad station turned museum, will be undergoing substantial renovation. Beginning on 1 December and continuing through March of 2011, one-third of the surface of the museum will be involved, at a cost of 11.4 million euros.
The Musée d’Orsay has the largest collection of Impressionists in the world, and the projected alterations will make it possible to exhibit a considerably larger number of them. The architect in charge of the project is Jean-Michel Wilmotte, whose other projects include the galerie Richelieu of the Louvre and the Collège des Bernardins.
In addition to the work on the Impressionist gallery, a new pavilion will see the day, the Amont, which will provide more than 2,000 square meters of exhibition space on four levels. Plans call for the decorative arts to be housed here, as well as a new bookstore. This portion of the project is the work of Dominique Brand of l’Atelier de l’Ile.
The Café de l’Horloge, located on the last floor, will be given an Art Nouveau look by Brazlian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana.
The museum will remain open to the public during the renovations, but only the principal collections, concentrated on the ground floor, will be accessible.
(Photo Credit: Ugolin and His Sons by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Musée d’Orsay – Wikipedia Commons)
Jan del Monte, blogging from the rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris, France
© 2009 Jan del Monte
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