Description of the attraction
The Museum of Contemporary Art is the exhibition area of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Chile and is currently housed in two buildings: the Forest Park Museum of Contemporary Art at the rear of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Santiago and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Quinta Normal Park in the Palace of Versailles.
The main goal of the museum, in line with the plans of the university, is to study the variety of new trends that shape modern cultural life, to present new opportunities in art to the public. The museum exhibits approximately 2,000 works by Chilean and foreign artists, starting from the end of the 19th century: paintings, drawings, watercolors and sculptures.
The museum was opened in 1947 with the collaboration of the University of Chile and the Institute of Fine Arts of Santiago. The Museum was originally housed in a building known as the Parthenon of the Quinta Normal Park. In 1974, the museum moved to the Palace of the Fine Arts in Forest Park. This building was built in the neoclassical style by the architect Emilio Jekkuera for the centenary of the Republic of Chile. It suffered serious damage from several fires and earthquakes, but after restoration work, it reopened its doors, expanding the exhibition halls. In front of the main entrance to the museum, there is a sculpture of the Horse, donated to the city by the Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero. In 1976, the building was declared a Chilean National Monument.
The Versailles Palace was built in 1918 in the French style of the early XX century by the architect Alberto Cruz-Mont. The original three-storey building with an area of 5400 sq.m. it was planned to be given to the National Society of Agriculture for placement in it, but in 1934 it was transferred to the University of Chile for the Faculty of Agriculture. In the early 70s, the building housed the services of the San Juan de Dios Hospital. Since the restoration of the museum building in Forest Park was carried out in 2005, it was decided to use the building of the Palace of Versailles to temporarily house the collections of the Museum of Modern Art. A year after the 2010 earthquake, the damaged palace building was rebuilt with funds donated by the German government. It currently exhibits experimental work by contemporary artists and architects.
