Virginia Museum of Fine Arts sets grand opening for expansion

The McGlothlin Wing of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, is under construction. Map of open galleries (PDF)

By: Bill Lohmann | Times-Dispatch
Published: April 18, 2009

SLIDESHOW: See highlights of exhibits at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art

The expanded Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has set a date for its grand opening: May 1, 2010.

However, yesterday's announcement was tempered somewhat by the news that all of the museum's galleries will have to be closed for more than 10 months during the final stages of construction and the reinstallation of art.

"I never like to deny a visitor access," said Alex Nyerges, the museum's director, in a phone interview from Los Angeles, where he was traveling with the museum's Fabergé Society. "Ten months might seem like a long time, but it's going to go by very quickly, and it's going to be worth the wait."

The primary piece of the museum's $150 million expansion, the 165,000-square-foot James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing, is now sealed from the elements, and interior work can "proceed full speed ahead," Nyerges said. The five-level, glass-and-stone addition will increase the museum's space for permanent galleries by 50 percent, enabling the museum to display about 5,000 works of art, more than double the 2,200 items before the expansion. The wing will also double the amount of space for temporary exhibits.

The expansion also includes a 600-car parking deck that was completed last year and the 4-acre Robins Sculpture Garden. Construction began in 2005.

"We are transforming the museum," Nyerges said.

In addition to work on the new wing, the museum is upgrading its fire-suppression and other mechanical systems in older parts of the building, which also played a role in the decision to close the galleries and complete everything at once, Nyerges said.

Some galleries will remain open through June 28, but others will close earlier. The Great Hall, now showing works from the 17th-century European Age of Magnificence, will be on view through tomorrow. The gallery housing the collection of Russian imperial jewels by Peter Carl Fabergé will be on view through June 14. The museum shop and cafe will remain open through June 28. A map showing galleries that are open can be found at www.vmfa.museum/map.pdf.

No full-time state employees or museum foundation jobs will be affected by the gallery closings as employees will be redeployed to other areas of the museum operations, Nyerges said. He also hopes no part-time jobs will be lost.

"There are lots of things still going on," he said.

Continuing museum operations will include: