Moderna Museet

Rafael Moneo’s museum on Skeppsholmen is a row of low pavilions with pyramid-shaped lanterns. The building slips in among the island’s 19th-century buildings. Inside, the art receives an even daylight from above.

Since 1958 Moderna Museet had been housed in the old drill hall on Skeppsholmen, and the collections had outgrown the building. An international competition was held in 1990–1991, and the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo won. The museum was built in 1994–1998 and opened in February 1998. At the same time the Architecture Museum, now ArkDes, was given new premises next door.

Moneo did not want the museum to dominate Skeppsholmen, where several historic buildings stand. The building is therefore low and consists of a series of galleries with pyramid-shaped lanterns that let in daylight. The façades are reddish and relate to the older buildings. A long corridor runs through the building, with the galleries on one side. The rooms vary in size, and the light from above gives the art an even illumination.

The building suffered from damp and mould and was closed in 2002–2004 for repairs. It has become a familiar part of Stockholm’s townscape. Moneo received the Pritzker Prize in 1996, while the museum was being built. Moderna Museet shows how a contemporary building can be adapted to a historic setting through scale, light and material.

• Contemporary architecture
• Rafael Moneo