MUNICH.- Visitors from Munich and farther afield are in for a special surprise at the Alte Pinakothek this Easter: After two years hidden from view, the Rubens and Rembrandt galleries on the first floor of the Alte Pinakothek (Rooms VII to IX) will be open to the public again from Good Friday. And although the side-rooms, or ‘cabinets’, containing smaller-scale works won’t all be open by Good Friday, they will be ready soon after Easter. Not only are the three refurbished galleries and their art treasures going on show in a new light, they will also be furnished over the coming weeks with new, revised object labels in both German and English.

Work has now been completed between the laylights and skylights, and adjustable louvres, modern lighting, and sensors have been installed. The new lighting system in these galleries has successfully passed all tests, allowing the museum to give the go-ahead for their reopening. The skylight glazing has been replaced to add diffusion, and the broken windows in the ‘cabinet’ rooms and the western staircase have also been replaced. These three galleries now give visitors a foretaste of what the Alte Pinakothek will look like in the near future: A seamlessly self-regulating blend of reinstated daylight and artificial lighting will guarantee constant lighting levels throughout the galleries, no matter what the season. The difference to the old, dim lighting system is now particularly noticeable as one leaves the Rubens room to enter the Van Dyck gallery, which has yet to be renovated.

For three weeks, visitors to the Alte Pinakothek can enjoy the displays in an impressive series of nine main galleries before the upper-floor galleries containing early German and early Netherlandish painting (Rooms I–III) also close for renovation on 18 April. The closure, which has been brought forward, will ensure that the energy-saving measures for the building are completed by the end of 2017.

The Alte Pinakothek regrets that of the many paintings from Rooms I–III, we can only present a small selection of early German, early Dutch and early Flemish panels in the interim exhibition ‘New Neighbourhoods III’, which will open at the end of May. Some of the selected panels for that exhibition are already on show in the eastern ground-floor ‘cabinets’, which can be accessed via the temporary gift shop.

By the end of 2016 the staircase, which is now free of scaffolding, will again be accessible from both sides.