Photo Property of David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
We’ve always been fans of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and are looking forward to next Thursday, January 19th which marks the official Museum reopening following an extensive addition and preservation project that began in the summer of 2011.
Photo Property of David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
With the immediate goal of creating additional space for the every-growing museum audience, architect Renzo Piano created the design for the new wing, performance hall and exhibition gallery. Piano discusses his approach to the project.
“I was a bit reluctant because, the idea of making a Venetian palace in Boston at the beginning of last century doesn’t sound very interesting. But then, when you arrive, and you go through the threshold into this space you realize that the beauty may be stronger than everything else, stronger than fate, stronger than kitsch, this is a really great piece of art. This is like capturing Venice, Venice is inside, it is actually the light of Venice, the atmosphere of Venice, it is actually that kind of magic suspended atmosphere. Venice is like getting out of time, getting in a new dimension that is timeless and this is what happened here.
“The idea was to provide a better instrument, a better tool with which to perform music, exhibition, education, and conservation. Of course to do that—it was evident that we could not work inside, or beside the building. We had to find a distance, an actual distance. The distance creates a dialogue between the two buildings, that is maybe too short and too long, but a nice distance and the right scale. The building is fragmented in several pieces so that the building, by the way quite a small building is not just one building, but smaller volumes that don’t aggress the palace.” (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Architect Statement)
This expansion features not only exquisite new architectural design but the stunning restoration of the Tapestry Room, “returning this beloved space to its original configuration for the first time since a temporary stage, chairs, and other modern elements were added to accommodate formal concerts in the early 1970s” (Isabella Stewart Gardner, Restoration). This room as well as the new wing and concert hall are welcome expanded locations for lectures, visitor orientation, education and community programs and the Museum’s Sunday Concert Series, all aimed at enhancing guests’ experiences.
Photo Property of David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
To learn more about this exciting new update to the Boston art community, visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
To see more sneak preview photos of the new buildings, visit Boston Magazine or Boston Globe.
