The Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum is located less than 15km south of the Slovakian capital Bratislava, on the borders of three neighbouring countries, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. A recently completed, lavish extension of the structure – voted “Building of the Year” in Slovakia just a short while ago – raises the appeal of this cultural showcase project. The museum complex, considered one of the most interesting projects of its kind in Central Europe, is completely bathed in ERCO light.
Opened in 2000 as a result of the initiative of Slovakian gallery owner Vincent Polakovic and Dutch entrepreneur and art patron Gerard H. Meulensteen, it is the first and currently only museum of modern and contemporary art in Slovakia. Despite its international recognition, its collection features distinctly regional focal points – pertinent to the roots of its founders. Paintings and drawings are joined by a variety of sculptures, many of which are displayed outside the museum in its surrounding parkland.
The privately operated museum amazes with an impressive collection complemented frequently by special exhibitions; its architecture is as stunning as its unique and spectacular location. Situated on a narrow stretch of peninsula amid the Danube, the museum complex is surrounded on three sides by the eponymous river, which at this point of its course reaches a width of several kilometres. The Danubiana evokes the shape of a ship bound in the shallows of the current. The river is very much present at points inside the museum as it is outside, with many of the galleries opening out to it through sprawling windows, so it appears to be part of the exhibition setting.