16. Find the following information in the text and write the number of the museum(s) (see on page 35) beside each question. In some cases you have to write more than one number.

Which of the museums:

A. spans the widest historical period?	F. has 350 exhibition rooms?
B. is an outstanding monument of Russian architecture?	G. is known as a “temple of spirit”?
C. excites and provokes by its architecture?	H. concentrates the radical new forms of art?
D. exhibits coins and medals, ceremonial arms and armor?	I. was named in 18th century?
E. keeps dynastic collections?	J. received Voltaire’s library?

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (2, see on page 35) was incorporated in 1937, and the Museum of Non-Objective painting, as it was then known, was established two years later. The museum – which assumed temporary residence in a former automobile showroom on East 54^th Street in New York – took as its basis the radical new forms of art being developed by such as Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Piet Mondrian.

The first permanent home for the museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He envisioned a building that not only broke the rectilinear grid of Manhattan but also shattered existing notions of what a museum could be. He conceived of its curving, continuous space as a “temple of spirit” where viewers could foster a new way of looking. The building opened in 1959. it has never lost its power to excite and provoke, standing today as one of the great works of architecture produced in the 20^th century.

The Hermitage (3, see on page 35) is a world-famous museum of art and cultural history. Within in its walls are close to three million objects. Among them are quite a few true masterpieces of art and unique artifacts from many countries and peoples of the world, ranging from deepest antiquity to the present day. The Hermitage is also a unique architectural complex, an outstanding monument of Russian architecture of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

The museum’s activity is in direct contradiction to the literal meaning of its name. “Hermitage” comes from the French eremite, which means “empty lot,” “hidden corner”. This was the name given in eighteenth-century France to small pavilions on palace grounds.

Along with paintings, the Hermitage received collections of engravings and drawings, antique artifacts, Western European sculptures, works of applied art, arms, coins, medals, and books (including Voltaire’s library). The museum’s exhibits (there are more than 350 exhibition rooms) are at present located in five buildings, connected by passages: the Winter Palace, the three hermitages (Small, Old, and New), and the Hermitage Theatre, in the foyer of which there are now regular exhibitions.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (1, see on page 35) traces its origins to the art collections assembled over centuries by the Habsburg dynasty. Holdings inherited from the Medieval rulers were augmented in the 16^th century by emperors Maximilian I, Ferdinand I, Maximilian II and, in particular, Rudolf II, who was the most prominent collector of the early Modern period. These monarchs enriched the imperial collections with objects of outstanding artistic importance. The individual dynastic collections of the 16^th century were kept in imperial residences in Vienna, Prague, Graz, and Ambras near Innsbruck. The diverse collections of paintings were combined to form the Kunsthistorisches Museum Picture Gallery, which comprises works from the 15^th through the 18^th centuries. Coins and medals from antiquity to the most recent times can be found in the Coin Cabinet. Ceremonial arms and armor from the 15^th through the 17^th centuries were amassed in the Collection of Arms and Armor. The development of modern conceptions of academic disciplines and research led to the “Universal Kunstkammer” splitting into the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, leaving the Kunstkammer with a core of works of decorative arts and sculpture. The Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments was assembled from the holdings of the Kunstkammer and the Este Collection.

After Connecting Museums, 2002 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.