Preparations are underway at the National Museum in Warsaw to open a new Gallery of Ancient Art. It will showcase exhibits from Egypt, the Middle East, Rome and Greece. When preparing the project, the architects wanted the various rooms to reflect the character of each of the exhibition's themes.
The richness of the ancient world: culture, art and customs will be shown in the new Gallery of Ancient Art at the National Museum in Warsaw. Work is underway on the exhibition, which will present the civilizational achievements of Egypt, the Middle East, Rome and Greece through the prism of the Museum's collections. The gallery is being built according to a design by the Nizio Design International studio, which is currently supervising the project. The exhibition is scheduled to open in December 2020. The total value of the investment is PLN 16,269,367.67.
Since the beginning of 2020, finishing and furnishing works started in 2019 have continued at the Ancient Art Gallery. Among other things, the following were carried out at the exhibition: decorative plaster, flooring and stone cladding. Graphite limestone was installed in four rooms. Sand limestone was used in the space dedicated to Egypt, and gray limestone was used in the section dedicated to ancient Rome. White marble was used where the exhibition tells the story of ancient Greece. In one of the Egyptian galleries, the walls and ceiling were finished with tiles imprinted with hieroglyphs. In another, the pyramid-shaped ceiling was lined with graphite acoustic plaster. A unique effect was created by using a cladding of malachite, a stone used daily in jewelry, on the surface of the wall.
A unique effect was given by the use on the wall surface of a cladding of malachite, a stone used every day in the jewelry industry
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finishing works
The so-called "dirty works", i.e. construction and installation works, have been completed at the exhibition site. The enclosures and masonry and gypsum walls are ready, as well as the suspended ceilings, floors and steel substructures. Display cases were also being installed. In the summer, under the supervision of Nizio Design International, graphics will be painted in the exhibition spaces. Work on the displays will also begin. The installation of special glass blends, or illuminated wall casing elements, which will be suspended directly above the display cases, will soon follow. The 300 × 360 cm glass panels are lined with foil with a cut-out symbol of the Fibonacci spiral, which will be enhanced by the light emanating from behind the glass. Miroslaw Nizio's studio team is currently preparing a design for a system of signatures to be placed in the Ancient Art Gallery.
between light and darkness, life and death
A total of 9 thematic galleries are separated in the exhibition space. Each of them is a testimony to the civilizational achievements of the powers of the ancient world: Egypt, the Middle East, Rome and Greece. The creators show the interpenetration of these cultures and the influence they had on the development of modern Europe. The design of the Gallery of Ancient Art, created by Nizio Design International and awarded in a competition organized by the National Museum in Warsaw, involves a narrative based on the contrast between light and darkness, life and death.
In one of the Egyptian galleries, the walls and ceiling have been finished with tiles imprinted with hieroglyphs
© press materials
The set design, which will be created in subsequent stages, will create, together with the elements currently being made, an aesthetically unified background for the museum's exhibits. Attention to detail and quality of materials, as well as consistency with the prevailing style of the cultural area, has resulted in a design in which the scenography does not dominate, but subordinates itself to the exhibition function, putting the beauty and value of the museum exhibits first. Characteristic motifs extracted from the art, architecture and topography of ancient civilizations are part of the narrative skillfully fused with the modernist interior in which the exhibition is created. The architects took advantage of the opportunities offered by the existing layout of the museum premises. Dimming the windows and installing special lighting will allow to emphasize symbolic content such as the sun's wandering in the sky or the conventional boundary between the world of the living and the dead.
