The Building

KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg was designed by Elissa and Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël, and built between 1968 and 1972.

It is a very flexible building, that, due to the mobile partition wall system, can change character, depending on the requirements of each individual exhibition.

Special note should also be made of the unique use of natural light, which has helped to make the building world famous.

The museum is designed to blend in with its natural surroundings, and like a ziggurat it rises to meet the adjoining hillside. It is situated on the edge of a large area of parks and woodland, and the surrounding vegetation stands in contrast to the precise contours of the building. 

The materials used were specially selected. The outer walls, and a large part of the floor area are made of carrara marble, and the light material structure helps to give prominence to the art works. 

The total area is approx. 6000sq.m. On the ground floor is the central hall together with an adjoining sculpture hall. Surrounding these are series of long sky lit galleries, seven smaller exhibition rooms, a chamber music room, the entrance hall, and the administration offices. 

On the lower ground floor are exhibition rooms, a café, cloakroom, lecture rooms, a study group room, a workshop and a library.

The sculpture park

The museum is encircled by a sculpture park, an amphitheatre and a grassy terrace. A brick wall forms a bridge between the stringent lines of the museum buildings and the wooded slopes behind. On display in the park are sculptures by Gunnar Aagaard Andersen, Willy Ørskov, Lene Adler Petersen, Mogens Møller and, in pride of place, Bjørn Nørgaard’s Klassisk tableau. Drømmeslottet (Classical Tableau. The Dream Castle) – a veritable crystal palace, complete with fluttering banners.