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San Telmo Museum, San Sebastián

Museo San Telmo San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain – design by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

29 Mar 2011

San Telmo Museum San Sebastián

Design: Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Iker Odriozola Courtesy of STM

The San Sebastian San Telmo Museum is opening its doors with a multi-disciplinary view, open to dialogue and culture.

• The architectonic rehabilitation and expansion project was designed by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos.

• The first of the temporary exhibitions entitled “6 thousand million others” will be opened to the public on 2nd April.

• The permanent collection is the common thread that helps citizens to understand the present and build the future from encounters with history.

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Donostia Kultura

San Sebastián, 28th March 2011- Today, 28th March, the San Telmo Museum has officially reopened in San Sebastián, after 4 years of rehabilitation work on the historical building and a brand new extension, the work of Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, in addition to the complete turnaround in its publishing strategy, now focussed firmly on society and citizenship from all possible angles: artistic, historical, disseminative, etc.

The San Telmo Museum, inaugurated in 1902, is the oldest in the Basque Country and brings its rich intellectual and patrimonial legacy right into the 21st century. The extension and rehabilitation carried out between 2004 and 2011 make it possible for the museum to reopen with new objectives from a multidisciplinary view, open to contemporary dialogue and debate. San Telmo is presented as a museum and, at the same time, a place to disseminate knowledge and create thought; it is an instrument to understand the present and build the future from encounters with the past and with our roots.

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Iker Odriozola Courtesy of STM

Architectonic project

The surprising a rchitectonic project is the work of Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, a studio with recognised international prestige that based its proposal on recovering the original building and producing a new contemporary block, gaining space for new uses and temporary exhibitions.

The historical building – a 16th century Dominican convent – that constitutes the basis of the museum, required urgent rehabilitation work to improve its condition and protect it falling into disrepair over time. The work has recovered original volumes – the cloister, the church, the tower and the chapels – eliminating structures that had been added during a renovation in 1932, modifying its original structure. The drainage, consolidation and restoration of original stone and wood constructive elements have been completed and adaptation work has taken place on the facilities, etc.

The other key aspect to the new San Telmo Museum is its extension with a new wing, under Mount Urgull along the seashore, intended to house the new cultural and commercial uses plus optimise accessibility for the public and the collections. The visual impact of the modern construction has been minimised thanks to the architects being able to work closely with artists Leopoldo Ferrán and Agustina Otero who have created a semi-plant wall covering the building with perforated steel sheets.

These sheets let the plants through so that they overhang just like the eroded stone on Mount Urgull that inspired the artists. So as Nieto Sobejano describes, this forms “a new plant wall, deep and light, that replies on the existing topographical difference and that hides two wings inside it.”

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Donostia Kultura

Permanent collection

The historical building and part of the top floor of the new wings will house the San Telmo Museum permanent collection. This exhibition recovers funds that have historically been on show in the museum since it was set up, enriched by new acquisitions and findings. The San Telmo Museum collection is divided into the following sections: Ethnography, Fine Art, Photography, Archaeology and History.

Over 26,000 listed pieces make up the museum’s collections: paintings, sculptures, drawings, etchings, Egyptian figures, weapons, medals, ceramics, musical instruments, steles, argizaiolas – wooden funeral tables traditional used in the Basque Country – maps, photographs, farming equipment or industrial objects. A selection of these pieces will be displayed to the public in different exhibitive segments encompassed within the titles “Traces in Time”, “Awakening of Modernity” and “Art History Collection” in addition to the “From a Convent to a Museum” audiovisual showing visitors how San Telmo has changed and developed and the milestones throughout its history.

In addition, there have been several archaeological findings during the rehabilitation process including the discovery of vestiges of old paintings from the end of the 16th century in the church that had been covered until this rehabilitation. These are Mannerist paintings that research by Pedro Echeverría, professor from the Modern Art Department at the University of the Basque Country, has linked to the most relevant artists of the period, directly related to the El Escorial circle. These paintings make the church more attractive, alongside the renowned large format canvases by José María Sert.

In the church, the public can also permanently visit the audiovisual montage entitled “Challenges for Our Society” that uses interactive light and sound projections to analyse the three challenges for Basque society in the future: sustainability, interculturality, equality, Europe and Human Rights. These are universal challenges that will look at people’s capability to intervene in the world around them and thereby participate in building their future. So the museum will give us an insight into Basque history and society whilst always encouraging reflection on the society and citizens’ questions and concerns in their most universal facet.

Finally, looking at the cultural environment of the museum, the Convent Tower will house “Museum of Gipuzkoa museums” offering information on centres in the Gipuzkoa museum network. Some of them, such as the Oteiza museum, will temporarily lend works from their funds to be displayed in the San Telmo Museum.

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Iker Odriozola Courtesy of STM

Temporary exhibition and new uses

The personality of San Telmo as a society museum will be completed with an offer of large format temporary exhibitions, on topics linked to the cultural, social and artistic memory and heritage at local, national and international level. Thanks to new rooms, the museum has almost 1000 m2 of space – distributed between the new building and the convent chapels – to develop an extensive exhibition programme.

The first of these shows that will open on 2nd April and can be visited until the end of August is “6 billion Others” an audiovisual show by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, from the GoodPlanet foundation working with artists Sibille d’Orgeval and Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire, looking at the essence of human beings. Forty fundamental questions asked to 5000 people throughout the world help us to discover what separates us from and unites us with the Planet’s inhabitants in this exhibition visiting Spain for the first time.

The programme for forthcoming temporary exhibition includes the show “Federico Fellini, The Circus of Illusions” (from September to November 2011) sponsored by the Fundación La Caixa, looking at the creation mechanisms used by this filmmaker through a multi-disciplinary view.There will also be the “Regarding Basque Art” show (from December 2011 to March 2012), produced by the museum itself that will look at the factors leading to the emergence and predominance of Basque sculpture in the 1980s and its influence on the national artistic scene.

In addition to the exhibition programme, new-look services now offered by the San Telmo Museum include a library open to the public, a function room with capacity for 300 people, several rooms for activities, labs and workshops plus a space where the museum shop will go. On the lower floor of the new building we find the bar-restaurant managed by Grupo Bokado that will become a centre for gastronomic experimentation and a place for meeting and leisure, not only for people visiting the museum but also open to the public and the city of San Sebastián.

San Telmo Museoa:

San Telmo Museum images : Donostia Kultura

On this new stage, the San Telmo Museum, boosted by the San Sebastián City Council, is honouring its promise to drive cultural and heritage development, with support from the Culture Ministry, the Basque Government and the Gipuzkoa Local Government, in addition to joint project agreements with the financial entity KUTXA, the building company Altuna & Uría, EITB, grupo Vocento, etc…

Museo San Telmo Museoa Tel. 943.481.571

San Telmo Museum San Sebastian images / information received 280311

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos : Convention Centre of Aragon, Spain

Location: San Telmo Museum, San Sebastian, Spain