The arrival of the Barnes Foundation in its new quarters on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway promises to further Philadelphia's identity as an artistic magnet.
Sandwiched between Washington, the capital, and New York, the center of culture, commerce, and media, Philadelphia has long had an inferiority complex. But the city's recent addition of nearly 90,000 people since 2006, ending a population free fall since 1950, attests to Philadelphia's comeback. It wasn't easy, or without controversy. The most notorious example of the city's bid to capture attention and boost tourism came in 2004, when the state government, the powerful Pew Charitable Trusts, the Lenfest Foundation, and the Annenberg Foundation staged a significant cultural coup. Along with a handful of other local players, they agreed to provide the venerated Barnes Foundation with $150 million to shore up its endowment if it would move from suburban Merion to Center City. With its world-famous $25 billion collection of art, the Barnes's move downtown was a major win for Philly.
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects’ new building for the Barnes Foundation, a monumental, limestone-clad structure, balances both its civic role and its function as a gallery for viewing art in an intimate setting. The dignified museum creates important metaphorical and physical links to the surrounding urban fabric, while its art program complements the city’s cultural scene. It’s not too much of a stretch to predict that the Barnes will bridge another gap: Philadelphia’s perceived cultural lag among America’s most important cities. If Washington has dozens of institutions surrounding the Mall, and New York has upper Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile, now Philadelphia offers a corollary with the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rodin Museum, and the Franklin Institute have been marooned for years waiting for good cultural company.
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