April 26, 2006
Revived Morgan Library blends old with new
The Morgan Library and Museum will reopen to the public this Saturday after undergoing a three-year $106 million renovation led by architect Renzo Piano.
The new construction, like the collections, mixes the old with the new. In the architecture, Piano's light-infused steel and glass structures connect with the stately 1906 building designed by Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White, as well as the 1928 Annex designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris.
 It's likewise in the collections, where in one gallery you'll find a Durer, Raphael, da Vinci, and Canaletto displayed near work from Pollock, Picasso and Gris. Elsewhere, handwritten musical manuscripts from Bach, Beethoven and John Cage seamlessly share a gallery with preliminary sketches of the child's book "Histoire de Babar, le petit elephant," books filled with the impossibly tiny handwritings of the Bronte sisters, a letter from George Plimpton seeking an interview with Ernest Hemingway for The Paris Review, and Edgar Allen Poe's "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains," which he wrote on half sheets of paper pieced together with sealing wax and displayed on a scroll.
It seems there are only 10 surviving Poe stories written in his own hand; the Morgan has three. It also has three Gutenberg Bibles. Not bad for a collection that packed even more punch before much of its Medieval collection was transferred to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917.
The museum's permanent collection draws on the holdings amassed mainly by financier Pierpont Morgan and includes more than 350,000 objects. The 300 works on view for the opening includes new acquisitions, some items never seen publicly and others out of view for years. The new Piano-conceived "cube" room, inspired by Renaissance chambers in Italy, holds some of the Morgan's "Medieval Treasury." In pride of place is the gold and gemstone covered Lindau Gospels, which was the cornerstone of Morgan's 630-piece manuscript collection, according to William Voelkle, the museum's curator of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.
 Also on display (through November 12) is Morgan's collection of Mesopotamian seals, small cylindrical stones carved with stories dating as far back as 3500 BC. It's one of the finest collections on display in the world, especially considering 5,000 other seals were stolen from Baghdad's museum at the start of the war, Sidney Babcock, Morgan's associate curator for ancient Near Eastern seals and tablets, said during a media preview of the exhibit.
The museum's renovation also includes a 280-seat underground performance space, with the green room actually two stories directly under 37th Street's sidewalk. The hall is adorned with cherry wood and "Morgan red" velvet seats.
There are two restaurants in the museum. One is a cafe and the other is set in the former dining room used by the Morgan family. It's equipped with the original marble fireplace, friezes and moldings in what looks to be an extremely cramped room with seating for 42. The dining room menu is "inspired by turn-of-the-century cuisine" and features Beef Wellington, filet mignon and seared foie gras with puff pastry.
The Morgan's new entrance is at 225 Madison Ave. near 36th Street, map. Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for children, seniors and students.
Earlier: Morgan to reopen April 29 in Renzo Piano redesign
April 26, 2006 09:19 AM in Architecture, Midtown, Museums, Sightsology
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