Normally museums exhibit only a small proportion of their collections, but the Boijmans Van Beuningen gallery in Rotterdam is the first in the world to display the whole lot.
Housed in a huge mirrored, bowl-shaped depot (仓库) attached to the museum in the Dutch port city, its collection of 151,000 artworks by artists including Vincent van Gogh and Oscar-Claude Monet will be accessible to visitors from Saturday.
“It is the only fully accessible depot, public depot that is open in the world,” museum director Sjarel Ex told AFP as media toured the building to Tuesday ahead of the opening. “What happens here is that you do not follow the script that was written by a curator (馆长). You see things by accident, and you feel that you are discovering things.”
“Normally, only some 6 to 10 percent of collections at major museums around the world like the Boijmans Van Beuningen are on display, and the rest kept in closed storage depots,” said Ex. That will now change for the Rotterdam institution. Visitors will even be able to watch works being restored. “If you do not show the works, people will stop talking about and thinking about an art work. As a result, it is very likely that it is into oblivion—out of sight,” he said.
The project, whose cost was around 92 million euros has mainly been covered by private donations, features five different temperature zones for different types of artworks. The depot was originally created to solve a very serious problem—the possibility of flooding in a low-lying country where a third of the land sits below sea level. The old basement below the museum was likely to let in water, making it unsuitable for storage. “Every building is a moment in time, so this celebrates for sure the climate,” said its architect, Winy Maas. “Why? Because it’s the reason for the existence of this building—the former archives (档案馆) were under water. It was flooding, so we have to bring it up.”
8. What makes the Boijmans Van Beuningen gallery special?
A.It lies on a site below sea level. |
B.Most of its collections are donations. |
C.It has the most collections in the world. |
D.It is the world’s first museum to exhibit all collections. |
9. What do we know from Sjarel Ex’s words?
A.Collections are not supposed to be shown. |
B.The curator can guide visitors around the museum. |
C.The depot is open to the public occasionally. |
D.Visitors discover the collections in person. |
10. What does the underlined word “oblivion” mean in paragraph 4?
A.Memory. | B.Honor. | C.Forgetfulness. | D.Preserve |
11. What is the best title for the text?
A.A Museum Opens Its Entire Art Collections In The Globe First |
B.The Boijmans Van Beuningen Gallery Held Its First Exhibition |
C.A Dutch Museum Was Rebuilt After Being Damaged By Flood |
D.Major Museums In The World Will Display The Whole Collections |