Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

a bird’s eye view of the
new albertinum with
the “ark for art”
the Ark
The highlight of the albertinum: the atrium, with stella Hamberg’s “Berserkers” in the foreground
Back in biblical times, there was a legendary way of safeguarding
valuable items in the face of a flood. In drawing up
his designs, Volker Staab took up this idea and adapted it to
the needs of a modern museum. As a result, an “Ark for
Art” was created – under the auspices of the state­owned
enterprise Sächsisches Immobilien­ und Baumanagement
– 17 metres above the inner courtyard of the building, ensuring
that the works of art are safe from any imaginable flood
that might strike in the future. The previously open courtyard
is now spanned by a bridge­like structure which constitutes
the roof and accommodates two floors of store rooms
and painting restoration workshops. In an area totalling
1,130 square metres, space has been created for around
6,000 paintings belonging to both the Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister and the Galerie Neue Meister, and four further
museums can also store some of their holdings here. Gaps
along the sides of the canopy structure enable daylight to
penetrate into the large hall below, which has now become
a new, central room in the building.
In addition to creating these new architectural features, the
existing fabric of the building has also been restored. The
aim here, however, was to adapt the rooms to the require­
ments of a modern museum – through special lighting
technology, for example – whilst at the same time preserving
the historic character of features such as the Klingersaal
and the neo­Renaissance facade. This has resulted in a
symbiosis in which the new and historic elements of the
building complement one another to their mutual advantage.
In this way, it was possible for the old building of the
Albertinum – which was initially built as an arsenal in 1563
– to completely re­create itself for the 21st century and, with
its illustrious history behind it, to look forward to an exciting
future in which it will serve its newly defined task: as a
museum of art from the Romantic period to the present day.
A new home for sculptures
Since the reopening of the Albertinum, the Dresden
sculptures have been on view on the ground floor and on
the first floor of the building. In the newly designed entrance
hall on Georg­Treu­Platz, visitors are immediately
greeted by Ulrich Rückriem’s “Egyptian”, which was produced
specifically for this location, and Balthasar Permoser’s
“Chronos” created in 1695, whilst in the interior
courtyard Stella Hamberg’s “Berserkers” lend a special
atmosphere and structure to the large space.
architect Volker staab
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