Description of the attraction
The Lucerne Art Museum is housed in an unusual glass building - the Cultural and Congress Center, erected in 1998 by the famous French architect Jean Nouvel. He proposed to the Lucerne municipality to build a building for various cultural events on the shore right in Lake Firwaldstersee and provided an astronomical cost estimate. Frightened by the upcoming expenses, the father of the city of Lucerne abandoned the original version and proposed to Nouvel to build a building on land near the water. Nouvel developed a completely new project of a business complex, which included a large roof that seemed to merge with the surface of the lake, visually combining the creation of human hands with a natural miracle.
The Lucerne Art Museum, founded in 1933, that is, a little later than other art galleries in Switzerland, was previously housed in the Kunsthaus building, built by the local architect Armin Meili. This mansion was located between Lucerne Central Station and the lake. In 1991 it was declared dilapidated and not in compliance with safety regulations. Therefore, they decided to demolish it, thus making room for the Nouvel Cultural and Congress Center.
Accordingly, the entire collection of the Art Museum was moved to a new building. The museum has at its disposal exhibition areas on the second floor, which are well lit and offer a magnificent view of the lake. After a long hiatus, the museum was opened in 2000. The entrance to it is located on the side of the bus station, which is located near the Cultural and Congress Center.
The collection of the museum presents mainly works of Swiss art from the Renaissance to the present day. The museum's exposition is based on a private collection of paintings that belonged to Dr. Walter and Alice Minnich and donated to the museum in 1937, as well as acquisitions by the Bernhard Eglin-Stiftung Foundation. Visitors to the museum are also interested in a selection of works by Swiss painters of the 1970s, which appeared in the collections of the Picture Gallery when Jean-Christophe Ammann was its director.
The collection of the museum is too large, therefore it is not constantly on display. The Art Museum constantly hosts temporary exhibitions, where you can see certain treasures of the gallery.
