Have a look up at the glass roof that covers the courtyard. You can’t miss it! Between 2007 and 2011, the museum underwent major renovations. These included roofing over this historic courtyard. The design drew inspiration from the compass rose lines found on old nautical maps. The roof is a tour de force in technical terms: the self-supporting structure of steel and glass is 34 metres square and weighs no less than 200 tons. There are 4 LED bulbs embedded at each of the 826 intersections that can be combined to produce all the colours of the rainbow. The roof effectively floats above the courtyard, leaving it still connected to the air outside. The floor of the courtyard was developed specially for the museum to dampen the sound of echoes. Small cracks in the flooring literally drain away the sound waves, reducing the reverberation time from 11 to just 2 seconds.

Back to start