The town of Colmar in eastern France has selected Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron to renovate and expand its medieval Unterlinden Museum and the neighboring Place Unterlinden. By adding a new wing and an underground gallery, the extension — which will cost €30 million ($37.6 million) — will double the museum's size, bringing it to over 86,000 square feet.
The Unterlinden Museum, which will remain open during construction, has a wide-ranging collection that includes archaeological objects from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age, medieval and Renaissance works, decorative art, popular traditional art, and 17th- to 20th-century painting. One reason for the renovation is that the museum's modern and contemporary collection has grown over the years. "Since its opening in 1853, the museum has always presented contemporary art, but an active policy of acquisitions in modern and contemporary art began in the 1970s," museum director Pantxika De Paepe told ARTINFO France. "The collection exists, but we don't have the space to show it." Several bequests and donations have also enhanced the museum's collection with works by artists including Jean-Michel Atlan, César, Henri Michaux, Joe Downing, and Constantin Brancusi.
The Dominican chapel in the museum's 13th-century medieval cloister holds the highlight of the collection, the Issenheim altarpiece, which marks its 500th anniversary this year. The new wing of the museum will take shape alongside the chapel in perfect symmetry, and its façade of brick and copper will echo the medieval structure. The extension will connect to the Art Nouveau-style Colmar Baths, which date from the early 20th century, via an underground gallery. The baths building — which ceased to function in 2003 when the town got a new public swimming pool — will display large-scale sculptures and host cultural events.
Three million tourists per year visit Colmar, and the Unterlinden Museum currently receives 200,000 annual visitors. The museum's goal is to increase that number to 320,000 when the renovation is complete in 2014. Currently, the French state is providing almost €5 million ($6.3 million) in funding through the Regional Office of Cultural Affairs, the region of Alsace has contributed €4.2 million ($5.3 million), and the departmental government is chipping in €3.3 million ($4.1 million) for the project. Of the €3.5 million ($4.4 million) left for the museum to raise, €2.6 million ($3.3 million) has already been donated by supporters including two American foundations — the Timken Company Charitable Trust and the Scheide Foundation — and the French bank Crédit Mutuel.