The 8,000-square-meter underground addition will house a space for temporary exhibitions, a café, a restaurant, a gift shop a children's play area and a reception area.
The museum's broad pillars will be "extended" to the underground level, making the addition an organic extension of the original structure, says Baán.
The only part of the addition that is above ground will be a 9X9-square-meter glass box on Heroes' Square. The box will be one of three main points of entry to the museum. Another will be cut into the stairs of the museum and the third will allow visitors into the new reception area from the Városliget city park, which is next to the museum.
The Museum of Fine Arts has made changes to fit the needs of cultural consumers over the past decades, but big compromises were necessary to give the old building new functions, says Baán. "Just one small café fits into the building, there is no restaurant and the cloakroom is not big enough. Other services which today's museum visitors consider comforts are also lacking."
The temporary exhibition space in the underground addition will be 1,200 square meters, far more than the 950 square meters afforded the museum's recent Van Gogh exhibition, says Baán. The museum's permanent exhibition will take over the space now used for temporary exhibitions.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
