Then and now

When designing the “old” museum, architects Winders and Van Dijk took potential disaster into account. Deep in the building’s core, they planned an impressive space: a bombproof shelter for the artworks in times of war. The robust brick construction of walls, buttresses and vaults — 47 metres long, 11 metres wide and 8.5 metres high — lies beneath the central upper galleries. When both World Wars broke out, the museum closed, all galleries were emptied, and the artworks were evacuated to this bombproof cellar. The XXL paintings by Rubens and his contemporaries were carefully lowered through trapdoors in the central galleries, guided down narrow shafts.

The first concrete realisation of the master plan (2012–2013) was the construction of a hypermodern painting storage facility in the old bombproof cellar. Not an easy task for the contractor. In 1952, the Ministry of the Interior had built an atom‑proof concrete bunker at the back of the cellar. That Cold War relic had to be removed first. Two mini‑excavators spent three months breaking, crushing and removing no fewer than 1,350 tonnes of concrete and 81 tonnes of steel. The new storage facility fully meets contemporary standards for safety and climate control. It contains 152 painting racks and can house around 1,800 paintings. In addition, there is space for climate‑sensitive sculptures and works on paper.

The KMSKA library grew steadily: from a modest book collection for internal use, it developed into a fully fledged art‑historical library accessible to everyone. Until roughly the mid‑20th century, cabinets and shelves were scattered throughout the building, and readers from outside the museum could not consult the books. Only in 1949 was an exhibition hall in the dark rear gallery of the bel‑étage transformed into a library with an adjoining reading room. City architect André Fivez designed the plans and opted for a functional, contemporary interior. The reading room was spacious and bright, with sleek, unadorned tables and chairs, and its pièce de résistance: the card‑catalogue cabinet. Only the female nude on the wall provided a touch of variation and distraction in the otherwise quiet workspace.

In the new museum, the library is given a prominent place at the front of the building. Its reading room is impressively tall, one large space spanning two floors. The upper level has three windows that make the room expansive and radiant. The space is illuminated by two floating LED halos, giving it a sacred atmosphere. Below, solid oak bookcases provide 271 linear metres of shelving. They are still empty for now, but soon the upper shelves will hold all the old periodicals, while the lower shelves—within easy reach—will house reference works, catalogues and books about the artists visitors encounter in the exhibition galleries. The reading room will undoubtedly become a beloved place.

Walther Vanbeselaere wanted to take major steps to modernise the museum building after his appointment as chief curator in 1949. To better welcome the public, exhibition rooms were given a new purpose. In 1965, architect Jul De Roover (1913–2010) was commissioned to create a permanent cafeteria. He incorporated Robert Mols’ recently restored, wall‑filling Speech of Antwerp in 1870 as a diorama in the café. Wall‑to‑wall carpet added the necessary cosiness.

In 1990, the old cafeteria received its definitive place at the front of the museum building. When implementing the master plan, Dikkie Scipio of KAAN Architecten wanted to restore the grandeur of the original building. The restoration of the future Grand Café renewed the parquet flooring and gave the space a more open, airy feel. It now spans two floors connected by an internal staircase. The future concession holder will determine the further interior design.

The museum building was constructed to suit the size of the collection — a collection that kept expanding through purchases and donations. New trends in how paintings should be displayed also emerged. Even before the First World War, the museum’s management wanted to abandon the old-fashioned, wall‑filling salon hang. Pol De Mont even aspired to build a new museum, or at least an extension. That never materialised, but a major renovation did. In 1927, the windows and doors between the patios and the ground‑floor exhibition rooms were removed. The long gallery halls were replaced by smaller rooms where the collection could be shown at eye level.

The museum had to improvise constantly to accommodate temporary exhibitions until its closure in 2011. Galleries were partially or completely emptied, which meant that parts of the permanent collection were temporarily out of sight. Thanks to the new volumes inserted into the building by KAAN Architecten, the renewed museum now has 40% more space for artworks. As a result, the eleven ground‑floor galleries are finally freed up for temporary exhibitions. A long‑awaited improvement. You will have to imagine the comfortable 1927 chairs yourself, though. The original layout of the rooms has been preserved, although the parquet flooring has been carefully restored here as well.