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Culture. At the end of February, a site visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims, under the enlightened guidance of Georges Magnier (director of the city’s museums), Ludovic Dingreville (Aires Mateus architecture agency) and Walter Gavard-Perret (operations manager, Grand Reims), took stock of the progress of the work and the scale of the achievements.
153,600 slates – obviously laid and nailed one by one by around ten roofers – cover the roof of the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims, currently undergoing renovation. This figure alone gives an idea of an architectural operation that is extremely rare in France. Because the future museum, revisited from top to bottom, will be the result of a subtle marriage between the preservation of the heritage and the spaces classified as historic monuments of the former Saint-Denis abbey – with the technical constraints that this implies – and more modern structures such as, for example, the creation of a second floor built under the attic or even a basement dug 10.50 meters deep to house various rooms… Without forgetting, of course, the most recent innovations in ventilation, light, treatment acoustic to reduce noise, etc.
A tripled exhibition surface
After the closure of the premises in 2019 and some vicissitudes – the Covid period, in particular -, the work began in May 2023. Around twenty lots were awarded to companies representing various trades: from the most classic, such as structural work, carpentry, locksmithing, painting… to the most specific, such as gilding with gold leaf, or signage. On average, around 50 workers work permanently on the site. When the museum welcomes its first visitors, its useful surface area (excluding technical areas) will be 7,200 m2, compared to 3,500 m2 at the time of its closure. The permanent exhibition area will have been tripled, from 1,200 to 3,500 m2. 1,280 works will be presented there, compared to only 350 in 2019.
Art Nouveau and Art Deco
The promotion of Art Nouveau and Art Deco will be among the strong points of the museum. The first floor will be devoted to Art Nouveau, and we will find, for example, in dedicated spaces, Henri Vasnier’s dining room created by Emile Gallé, or another dining room (period 1906/1906) donated by the Krug family. On the second floor, place for Art Deco, with furniture from the 1920s/1930s. A museographic bias consists of alternating a vast and clear scenography and more intimate cabinets. In one wing, a long gallery of sculptures will highlight the museum’s riches in this area, whose collection mainly covers the period 1870/1960, by presenting 140 works of all formats – compared to around ten previously -, giving pride of place to the work of the famous Reims artist René de Saint-Marceaux. Another wing (240 m2) will be entirely dedicated to Foujita. In the center of the interior courtyard, the “golden rift” (on the sheet!), reminiscent of the chalk pits, will make the link between heritage and modernity to lead the visitor to a basement created from scratch where they will find a temporary exhibition room (520 m2, 5.50 m under ceiling), an auditorium with 220 seats, a documentation center (storage and consultation space) opening onto a patio which will provide light.
54 million euros
With the works now on schedule, the empty building is expected to be delivered in December this year. It will then be necessary to install the collections for an opening to the public planned for June 2027. The estimated cost of the « nouveau » Reims Museum of Fine Arts currently remains established at €54 million excluding tax.
