Bereichsnavigation 2. Ebene
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James Simon-Galerie
Bereichsnavigation 2. Ebene
The James Simon-Galerie will be a new, centrally located visitor centre between the Neues Museum and the Kupfergraben. As Museumsinsel’s sixth building, it will strike a contemporary note in the construction history of the Museumsinsel. The new reception building, in its prominent position along the Kupfergraben, will assume the dimensions of Schinkel’s Packhofgebäude which stood on the same spot until the 1930’s.
The new reception building is of central importance for the increasing numbers of visitors, which could well rise to as many as four million persons annually in a few years’ time. It will welcome visitors in a manner befitting the Museumsinsel, offer them orientation and direct them to the highlights on the main circuit. This will bring the Museumsinsel up to international standards, it being that in the past few years all comparable internationally significant centres of art have formulated their entry situation in an architecturally distinctive way and extended their offer of service. The James Simon-Galerie will provide an infrastructure for the entire Museumsinsel with an information and ticket office area, cloakrooms, an auditorium, space for temporary exhibitions, a museum shop, a café and a restaurant. This will relieve the historic buildings of the strains of all ancillary facilities and thus protect them from considerable wear and tear.
The museum is named in honour of James Simon (1851-1932), who brought worldwide fame to the Berlin State Museums with his lavish gifts. His unswerving commitment to art and science also serves as a bright example for modern patronage.
The Federal Government's decision of November 2006 to advance 73 million euros for the new building has been the decisive step towards making it a reality. The plans of David Chipperfield Architects (London / Berlin) were agreed with the body responsible for the protection of historic monuments and buildings and then presented by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz) to the public in June 2007. The building will use classical elements to order the relations and open spaces between the Pergamonmuseum, the Neues Museum and the Kupfergraben so these can be experienced by visitors. A broad open staircase on the south side will receive visitors coming from the Lustgarten and lead them to the upper level with access to the main circuit in the Pergamonmuseum. The second determining element of the proposal is the historic motif of the colonnades, redone in modern form. As a continuation of the colonnades around the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie, a new, smaller Kolonnadenhof (Colonnades Courtyard) will be built between the James Simon-Galerie and the Neues Museum. The foundation of the James Simon-Galerie at the edge of the Kupfergraben will take up the architecture of the Pergamonmuseum and support a tall colonnade which is visible at a distance. Here, a new terrace facing the southwest will, for the most part, also be accessible when the museums are not open. The James Simon-Galerie, through its staggered structural parts and transparent design, will allow a variety of views of the facade of the Neues Museum and will also, on the other hand, correct today's ahistoric, completely open view of the Neues Museum from the Kupfergraben to reestablish the historic ensemble structure. Current planning foresees completion of the James Simon-Galerie in 2012, when work on the Pergamonmuseum will be well underway. While the Pergamonmuseum is being reconstructed, the only entrance will be via the James Simon-Galerie.
