Photo by Norbert Miguletz, courtesy Städel Museum

The Städel Museum

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The upgrade will almost double the art museum's exhibition space from 43,000 square feet to 75,000 by introducing a new gallery underneath the museum's garden, designed by the local architecture firm Schneider+Schumacher, which won an international competition for the commission. The museum's west wing will remain open through the entirety of the project, featuring an exhibition on Botticelli from November 13 through February 28, 2010, and an Ernst Ludwig Kirchner retrospective opening next April. A selection of "masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries from the collection of the Städel Museum" will travel to Lausanne, Switzerland, and Melbourne, Australia. A selection of Dutch and Flemish paintings will be seen in Bilbao, Tokyo, and elsewhere in Japan.

Eighty percent of the financing for the €40 million ($57 million) project has already been secured. To raise the remaining funds, the museum has launched a campaign seeking donations from the public.