Monowara Begum Moni
Moscow – It was really a bus garage inside of the Gorki Park near Moscow River in Russia’s capital Moscow. The building, completed in 1927, was an example of applying architectural beauty to an industrial facility.In 1990, the old garage was listed as an architectural memorial. In 2001, the bus company vacated the building and the City Hall donated it to the Moscow Jewish Community Center for redevelopment, on condition that the Community Center builds a public school on the same lot and returns it to the City.
After modernization in 2008,
the garage was reopened as the Center for Contemporary Museum with an 8,500 sq. meters of exhibition area. The Jewish communities converted it into a “Jewish Museum of Tolerance” in 2011.
Russian President Vladimir Putin contributed his one month of coal mines salary for the museum.
This year Garage celebrated its 10th anniversary. It has initiated the foundation of Russia’s first free public library on Contemporary Art and is now digitizing its collection – the largest archive of Russian Art of the 20th and 21st centuries, which is gradually being made available online.
The museum activities occupy three levels, adapting to the spatial and structural features of the existing structure.
The entrance to Garage Gorky Park is marked by two large facade panels that slide upwards to frame the art in the lobby’s double height space and provide a view through the building from the park.
Like other museums, there are some collections of unusual objects, like painting with shell, beer barrel, cars, weapons or display of the coal mines on the floor – demonstrating the modern environmental situation. A Belgian citizen invested in this museum to arouse the interest of people about climate change.
