DAS PROJEKT ZUR ERWEITERUNG DES MUSEUMS / 2012

Today the museum covers a surface area of about 5,620 m², including exhibition spaces (4,000 m²), conservation, storage and other work areas (1,370 m²), and offices (250 m²). The expansion project for the museum will significantly increase its size so as to comply with current standards for visitor reception, accessibility, safety, conservation and working conditions.

The total area open to the public, which now amounts to 4,000 m², will be enlarged to 6,300 m² so as to offer the full complement of services appropriate to a museum with an international reputation. The new reception area will be able to welcome at least 200 people (four busloads) at the same time, including restrooms, ticket windows and a supply of audioguides commensurate with the museum’s flow of visitors. A new museum shop and restaurant, long requested by many of the museum’s visitors, will also be accessible when the museum itself is closed, just as are all of the city’s other shops and dining establishments.

The enlarged space will allow for a reinstallation of the museum’s collections following a modern and interactive exhibit design allowing the visitor, apart from the pure aesthetic pleasures experienced in the discovery of works of art, to better understand the historical background and cultural context of their creation.

A meeting room is planned, large enough for seminars and workgroups but also able to serve as a recital hall, enabling the museum to schedule cultural programs and events in relation to its mission. Educational workshops reserved for school groups will be offered to classes of all levels either before or after the museum visit.

Finally, the museum’s technical facilities (conservation, documentation, stable and secure preservation) will undergo improvements and storage and work areas will be enlarged in order to facilitate the study and conservation of works and ensure their safety and protection.

Clearly, this project aims to satisfy the needs of a demanding public by significantly improving the conditions for the conservation and presentation of the museum’s collections but it also seeks to change the very image of the museum at the heart of the city of Colmar. Indeed, a project on this scale may also serve to promote a cultural, social and economic reawakening in Colmar centred on the museum in the manner of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.