Four Domes Pavilion is ready [PHOTOS, VIDEO]

Works lasted two years. ‘There were some surprises on the building site, such as additional foundations not included in layouts, or the cracked northern dome,’ says Tadeusz Nesterowicz, Deputy Administrative and Economic Director of the National Museum and the representative of the National Museum in charge of implementation of the project.

Renovated and reinforced

During repair works, the façade of the building was renovated and the colour agreed upon after an iconographic analysis was applied. The northern dome was reinforced and its original decoration was restored. The building was equipped with modern systems and windows were replaced. The interior is painted sterile white. However, the most enchanting element of the Pavilion is its internal courtyard – it was provided with a special roof in order to expand the exhibition space of the museum. The glass roof is based on a huge steel structure. As a result of this, the National Museum gained 6,246 square metres of additional space. The building is adapted to the needs of disabled persons – it contains special handrails and platforms.

The author of the project is BeMM Architekci, and the general designer is Marek Michałowski. The general contractor was the Warsaw company Budimex SA. ‘These works were not easy to perform – they involved, for example, the reinforcement of the foundations, large demolition works or the protection of the cracked dome. We managed to accomplish everything without any serious accident on the site,’ explains Marcin Sierpowski, Contract Director.

Logistic operation

The renovation of the Four Domes Pavilion cost over 84,727,000 PLN, of which over 52,000,000 PLN was provided under a grant from the European Regional Development Fund, and over 31,000,000 PLN was contributed by the Local Government of the Lower Silesia Province. The Museum’s own funds amounted to over 600,000 PLN.

‘Now we will have to furnish the interiors,’ says Piotr Oszczanowski, Director of the National Museum. ‘I think that we will invite inhabitants to the opening of the exhibition in September next year. We are facing a huge logistic operation connected with the transport of works. Many of them have been stored until today, and now their conservation is under way. In order to obtain funds for this exhibition, we submitted applications to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and to the Local Government of the Lower Silesia Province,’ stresses Oszczanowski. The National Museum will need 1,000,000 PLN for the maintenance of the Pavilion and around 5,000,000 PLN for the preparation of the exhibition.

In the Four Domes Pavilion, a collection of works of contemporary art by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jerzy Nowosielski, Tadeusz Kantor, Alina Szapocznikow, Władysław Hasior and others will be shown. Apart from that, the Museum is planning to create an open-air sculpture gallery in the park adjacent to the Pavilion.

The Four Domes Pavilion was designed by Hans Poelzig and built in the years 1912-1913. Since the beginning, it has been used for exhibition purposes – in 1913, a historical exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the victory over Napoleon was presented there. In 2006, the pavilion and the Centennial Hall was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.