Reopening of art museum is welcomed

LAST weekend’s reopening of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham has been welcomed.

IMMA is Ireland’s leading national cultural institution for the collection and exhibition of modern and contemporary visual art. The main buildings housing IMMA at the Royal Hospital have been closed since 2011 for major refurbishment works,

They re-opened on Saturday, October 12, with a major retrospective of the work of Eileen Gray, one of the most celebrated and influential designers and architects of the 20th century.

Welcoming the opening, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, said: “I am delighted that IMMA, one of Ireland’s leading cultural institutions, will now reopen in full at its original home in the historic surroundings of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

“The completion of this work at IMMA dovetails with the expected commencement of major refurbishment works at the National Gallery of Ireland in the period ahead. These are important projects for Ireland’s cultural infrastructure.

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Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Brian Hayes, said he was also delighted to see the completion of the programme of works.

“The systems now in place not alone meet the necessary regulatory compliance requirements but also provide at IMMA the standards expected internationally of any modern museum intending to attract important and valuable visiting exhibitions into the future,

? he said.