BERNE, SWITZERLAND.- The Maurice E. and Martha Müller Foundation together with the architect Renzo Piano and in the presence of the founding partners laid the foundation stone for the Paul Klee Centre in Bern, which is scheduled to open in summer 2005. At the same time the establishment of a foundation for the children’s museum at the Paul Klee Centre set a new milestone in terms of the future running of the centre.



The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone on 20 June 2002 marked the conclusion of extensive earth-moving and the beginning of actual construction work on the Paul Klee Centre. The ceremonial act itself was performed on site by Prof. Maurice E. Müller and former Regierungsrat Peter Schmid, Honorary President and President of the Maurice E. and Martha Müller Foundation (client and sponsor of the building) respectively, together with the architect. With this the way is now clear for the creation of the Paul Klee Centre, which will have a core collection consisting of approximately 4 000 works of art by Paul Klee at its disposal. No other institution world-wide is in a position to make such a high proportion of the complete work of a world-famous artist accessible to the general public.



The first "founding partners", i.e. the first partners from business and industry to make noteworthy contributions to the construction of the Paul Klee Centre, were also present at the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone. These include COOP, Schweizerische Mobiliar, Galenica AG, Swiss Post, Securitas AG, UBS AG and the Credit Suisse Group.



The Paul Klee Centre aims to be a place that enables varied encounters with art and culture. In accordance with Paul Klee’s activities, the centre will focus on – and dedicate zones to – music, literature, theatre and education as well as the fine arts. Prof. Maurice E. and Martha Müller with Bénédict G. F. Hentsch from Geneva set a milestone for the future running of the centre on 10 June 2002 by establishing a foundation for the "children’s museum" at the Paul Klee Centre (Fondation du musée des enfants auprès du Centre Paul Klee). The foundation capital amounts to a eight-figure sum and will allow the "children’s museum" to develop and, for the first seven years, run attractive educational facilities for children from age 4 as well as young people and adults. Although the educational centre is an integrated and key part of the Paul Klee Centre it will possess the necessary programme autonomy. A further noteworthy contribution to the foundation capital was made by the DARIER HENTSCH & CIE bank, Geneva.



The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone furthermore offered an ideal opportunity for the official opening of a platform providing information on the history of the project as well as a vantage point with a small poster exhibition. Both can be visited without prior appointment.