In the capital of Australia, Canberra National Portrait Gallery opens

National Portrait Gallery recently opened in the capital of Australia, Canberra. The exercise of this entire project took 15 years. Construction cost 70 million dollars - for 16 million more than anticipated. The new building is located on the shore of the lake, in the same area, where most of the administrative buildings of the federal government, including the High Court and National Gallery of Australia.

Portraits from the national collection, which consists of 1 200 pieces collected in 1999, previously exhibited at Old Parliament House, where both can display only 130 works. Now, a portrait gallery visitors will be able to simultaneously examine the entire 450 paintings.

The new building was designed by architect Richard Johnson (Richard Johnson) and represents a single concrete structure with simple galleries and natural lighting. It is designed with wood, plants, brought from all over Australia, as well as the different stones, including sandstone from Sydney and blue sandstone from the state of Victoria.

portrait gallery director Andrew Seyers (Andrew Sayers) said: «This is a modern building, and he likes modern art. Old Parliament House - a historic structure, and historical works because it look good, but many of today's work is literally "face" to the carpet ... »In addition, according to the director, the new building has much more room for displaying sculpture.

The first gallery visitors can see portraits of the colonial era, as well as photos of Steve Irvine (Steve Irwin), the author of a series of popular films «Hunter crocodiles», and multimedia images from oskaronosnoy actress Cate Blanchett (Cate Blanchett).

Joy of possession of the National Portrait Gallery with the Australians can not divide Canadians. Recently, the Government had announced the waiver of building their own galleries , it is argued that none of the options proposed does not satisfy the interests of taxpayers and the requirements of the authorities.

material produced Catherine Onuchin

Source: artinfo.com , cbc.ca , artinvestment.ru