Officials in Milan are one step closer to completing one of the city’s most long-awaited cultural endeavors, the Grande Brera project, which will create a cultural complex to exhibit the vast collection of the renowned Pinacoteca di Brera.
In addition to renovating the Pinacoteca di Brera building and moving the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera housed there to a nearby former military barracks, the project involves remodeling a centuries-old building, Palazzo Citterio, which the Italian State purchased in 1972 with the intent of transforming it into a major cultural hub. The palazzo extends over 6,500 square metres of indoor and outdoor space.
In addition to housing temporary exhibitions, the renovated Palazzo Citterio will display the Pinacoteca di Brera’s collection of rarely seen twentieth-century works by such famous artists as Amedeo Modigliani, Mario Sironi, Giorgio Morandi, Filippo De Pisisi and Marino Marini, among others.
In December 2012, the Culture and Heritage Ministry of the Lombardy Region opened a public bid for designs that would ‘revolutionize’ the building. Twenty-nine internationally renowned architectural studios presented bids, 13 of which were selected for consideration.
Until February 16, the 13 proposals are on display at the Triennale di Milano (www.triennale.it), Milan’s design museum, where visitors can examine and compare the designs. The exhibit, Verso la Grande Brera, will then move to Rome’s MAXXI museum (www.fondazionemaxxi.it) from March 6 to 30.
The winning design will be selected in March, with the renovation to be completed by 2016.