Gunzenhauser Museum

The Gunzenhauser Museum is a museum and art gallery located in Chemnitz; third largest city of Saxony, Germany. It contains 2,459 works by 270 modern artists of the 20th century that have been collected by the art dealer Dr. Alfred Gunzenhauser. The Gunzenhauser Museum was inaugurated in December 2007 in the presence of the German President Horst Köhler and is one of the most important museums of Modern Art in Germany.Building's historyThe museum's building was constructed between 1928 and 1930 in the New Objectivity style as the former headquarter of the Sparkasse Chemnitz (Savings and loan association of Chemnitz) and was one of the first high-rise buildings in Chemnitz. Fred Otto (1883–1944), head of the municipal planning and building control office between 1925 and 1944, purposely abandoned decorative elements and used bright, beige-coloured travertine for the facades. Thus, the building shows its balanced proportions and clear structure to good effect. The building's aesthetic centre is the former tills' hall, which is lighted by a glass roof. During the renovation, the architect Volker Staab took advantage of the existing building's potential and minimized the use of structural addition and interventions.