Royal Ontario Museum.
View from landing at level 2
Entrance foyer Ceiling detail and Stained Glass window.
Pix credit :Ashutosh Kaul
Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg is among the best museums in the world; among the biggest too! One September day long long ago I was lined up to enter it. The line was massive. Apparently the entire city had decided to visit it the day I had planned to. As I was psyching myself for a long wait of several hours an officious looking lady came over and pulled me out of the line! " Dear guest", she said in Russian, " you need to use a different door"!
So she led me to the front of the line and I entered the building from I assume a door used by high communist party functionaries and senior government officials. I was a 25 year old Mr. Nobody from India. Why on earth would I get such protocol is a mystery the universe has yet to reveal ! Did I tell you that those were the best times of my entire life. Shows would give us the front row seats. Front row meaning the first row, no less. Clubs would immediately change to Indian dance number as I set my foot in; " in honour of our Indian guest" they would announce! Random total strangers would send a bottle of champagne to my table at the restaurant, " with our compliments"....... I do not have the count of the number of museums; historical places, attractions, public spaces; events and people that gave me the royal treatment.
One theory is that the universe was over compensating me for the cruel back stabbing and absolute unravelling of my entire life's plan that was taking place simultaneously behind my back. Completely unbeknownst to me my truth was turning into white lies and deep silence. If truth gets replaced by silence; the silence becomes the lie as well! Best time of my life was also the worst time of my life! Interesting; isn't it?
Let us get back to the Royal Ontario Museum! The heritage limestone masonary building was constructed in 1912 and expanded in 1931 as the plaque on the facade says. A modern addition on Bloor Street inspired by the museum's substantial crystal collection opened in 2007 .
The difference between a civil engineer and an architect is this. Any civil engineer can make a successful, functional and safe structure. The fact that the structure encompasses a volume inside it and a volume outside in which it exists is the concern of an architect. Architects has to deal with this nothingness! Consider me biased but based on this design, Libeskind fared better in this regard than Frank Gehry has.
OK don't listen to my gibberish! These are the kind of things I used to tell my son. Wanted him to become an architect or a nuclear engineer. Nuclear was way too much thermodynamics ; stuff he was not very fond of. He also did not want to deal with 'nothingness'! Being a straight forward, logical, concrete person, uncertainty of the creative process did not appeal to him. A solid proven technology backed plan with a clear build process and a predictable result is his thing. Of course he chose civil engineering. I am glad he did not listen to me because he is immensely successful in his career and very happy.
Museums and galleries are a visible marker of great cities. Definitely among the achievements of the human society. They preserve ; teach; amuse; entertain and inspire. They often are your muse for life. Generation after generation of art students have regularly visited to sketch and get inspired at a gallery. Literally learning from a past master. Together with the Statue of Liberty; Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th Avenue and the iconic Guggenheim Museum,designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, also on 5th Avenue totally define the New York city. The vibe around these buildings is nothing short of electric.
MET asks you to pay whatever you want to enter if you are a resident of NY and NJ. $1 is fine. I paid $ 10 a bit sheepishly. I was feeling cheap till I came across a board near the main entry that had several entry tickets hung on it. People leave them for the next visitor to use at no charge. There is absolutely no fiscal reason not to go in. There are several other discounts available for seniors,and students. Children under 12 enter free .
Worldwide museums encourage visits by discounting tickets ; open houses ; student freebies and senior passes. Never miss a chance to visit one. There is a serious culture of museum patronage throughout the western world. Lineup at Louvre is legendary. EU residents pay 22 Euro, others pay 32 Euro and under 18 pay nothing. I.M.Pei designed the now famous glass and steel pyramid entrance to Louvre. It is an exhibit in itself. British Museum in London is free to visit; although they recommend booking a time slot online to avoid long line ups.
Eastern Europe and Russia are a bit ahead in this regard in my opinion. Everybody visits museums. It is not only for the creative people; tourists or culture snobs. Factory worker; simple villager; brick layer; housewives; children of all ages; students, old, young - all can be found lining up to enter. Funded mostly by the public exchequer the entry cost to one great museum after another is kept low ; really low. I did not pay anything to see several amazing museums including Hermitage. Even today General admission is about $10 provided you plan ahead.
They can be a private profit led business once in a while; like Madame Tussaud's wax museum, admission to which runs about $35. Not worth it by my reckoning. strictly a tourist trap. On the other hand Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan costs $ 70 for general entry and then there are some additional discretionary costs. Budget about $ 150/ person for a complete experience . It is worth every penny.
New Delhi has the National gallery of Modern Art housed in Jaipur House near India Gate. Natural History Museum is at Barakhambha Road near Mandi house. There are quite a few others too . To my chagrin attendance however is abysmally poor across the board! What you should never ever miss though is the National Museum on Janpath. It is a virtual treasure trove offering a rich collection representing the full spectrum of the oldest civilization on earth. It will elevate and enrich you to such a degree that you will change forever. Wish a lot more people would visit it. If you want to visit only one spot in the city ; make it this one. It costs a very cheap INR 20 for Indian nationals. About the cost of a cup of coffee! Even for a foreign national it is INR 500. It is about $6. Cost of a coffee and cream cheese bagel. Same admission price for National Gallery of Modern Art. Entry however is free for children and students with an ID.
There is a Naval gallery on level 2 of the National Museum. I am not sure if it is still operational. There was some talk about relocating it. You can safely miss it if you are short on time . I designed it quite a few years back. I revisited it about 8/9 years ago. There were far too many directionless random updates since I did this project. There was no design language left that I could decipher. Typical Virgo fault finder that I am ; I could only see all the subpar amateurish creative decisions I had made then. It made me uneasy ! I would surely make those decisions differently today. Can't hide behind budget and bureaucratic constraints ; which were nothing to be trifled with.
I am still accountable for what I put out there in the world! We all are!
