Berlin James-Simon-Galerie asv2019-07 img2

The James Simon Gallery () is an art gallery located between the reconstructed

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (, ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, ...

and the Kupfergraben arm of the Spree river on

Museum Island The Museum Island (, ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree (river), Spree Island in the Mitte (locality), historic heart of Berlin, Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of the most important museum sites ...

in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by architect

David Chipperfield Sir David Alan Chipperfield, , (born 18 December 1953) is a British architect. He established David Chipperfield Architects in 1985, which grew into a global architectural practice with offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai, and Santiago d ...

and opened in 2019. As the sixth building on Museum Island, the gallery has a prominent position at the site of the former ''Packhof'' designed by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

, which was demolished in 1938, and its design is inspired by the construction history of Museum Island. The gallery is named in honour of the art patron Henri James Simon (1851–1932) who brought worldwide fame to the

Berlin State Museums The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters; several research institutes; libraries; and supporting facilities. They are overseen by the ...

with his lavish donations, including important artwork and artifacts. The choice of a prolific Jewish donor as the gallery's namesake meant to recognize other Jewish donors whose names were removed from German museums during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

History

Chipperfield's first designs for the James Simon Gallery featured plain cubes with a hull of satin glass and steel, causing various protests. In 2004, an official panel recommended to Parliament that the government abandon plans for the entrance building, which led to an extensive revision in 2007. The design of the reception building consisted of a stone basement, framed by a modern continuation of

Friedrich August Stüler Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss. ...

's colonnades at the

Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to ...

. Originally planned at a cost of $94 million, the total cost of the project grew to $157 million; flaws in the foundation, which was built by divers due to the building's location on the Kupfergraben canal, necessitated two years of reconstruction. The gallery was ceremonially opened to the public on July 13, 2019, and saw 26,000 visitors on its opening day.

Design

Similar in function to the

Louvre Pyramid The Louvre Pyramid () is a large glass-and-metal entrance way and skylight designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei. The pyramid is in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace in Paris, surrounded by three smaller pyr ...

, the James Simon Gallery is designed to receive the visitors for the island, offer them orientation, and direct them to the exhibits featured on the main circuit. A broad staircase leads up in three flights to an elevated plateau with a line of 70 white concrete columns that stand almost nine metres high but less than 30 centimetres thick. The building provides a 300-seat auditorium, with concrete walls cast in pleated acoustic folds; a media centre; a 600-square metre space for temporary exhibitions; a bookstore; shops; cafés and restaurants for all of Museum Island. Reviews of the James Simon Gallery in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...

'' praised the building, but noted similarities in the design of its colonnade to constructions at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds designed by

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

References

External links

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{{Authority control Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Museum Island 2019 establishments in Germany Art museums and galleries established in 2019