Colorful Leon, Spain Museum
The MUSAC museum in Leon, Spain
The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, AKA the MUSAC, is a contemporary art museum in the city of León, Spain. The building is celebrated for its avant-garde architecture, and it has been awarded a number of prizes incuding the 2007 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. Designed by the architectural studio of Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón, the multicolored panels that adorn the exterior resemble the stained-glass windows of a cathedral. The architects drew their inspiration for this work from the main rose window (called The Falconer) at the 13th century Gothic cathedral, Santa María de León. It is a “Museum of the Present”, in the words of its curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, and collects artworks only from the period between 1992 and 2012. It is a visual landmark in the city and seeing it person was a thrill. The exterior is exciting and is as imposing as a large cathedral. The colored panels do remind me of those paint slips you get when you are considering colors for your house.
