Royal Academy Refurbishment

Excellent refurbishment of the Royal Academy to mark its 250th anniversary.
 
The refurbishment has used underground space to link the original building and the Burlington Gardens space. I’ve been to some good shows in the latter building so was already fond of that exhibition space but it never felt part of the whole and was annoying to have to walk though Burlington Arcade to get to the main galleries. The underground area has a rather industrial feel and is used to tell the story of the story of the Royal Academy including displaying many of the plaster casts of classical sculpture used as an alternative to life drawing.
 
There is a new gallery for the permanent collection where you are greeted by a formidable figure of Satan by Sir Thomas Lawrence but soon move on to the more peaceful casts and lovely hang of a contemporary copy of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vince, the Michelangelo Tondo and copies of the Raphael cartoons. There were also a lovely collection of Constable sketches.
 
I didn’t see the new lecture theatre but look forward to booking something in it. It certainly looks beautiful from the outside as it’s a lovely wooden cylinder with steps up one side. I have to give a big shout out to the new toilets! Plentiful with space to queue, although I’ll miss the conversations I used to have huddled under the stairs in the ladies toilet queue!

I like the fact that the old space had been spruced up but not really changed so the whole thing feels like an old friend who’s had a new haircut. I look forward to going back and seeing how the new space develops and beds in.


 
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