On March 27, Milan’s new MUDEC (Museum of Cultures) opened at 56, Via Tortona, inside a former Ansaldo industrial complex. The exhibition space is a multi-disciplinary hub extending over 17,000 square meters, and aspires to become a permanent lab for research, documentation, and popularization of the creative and artistic activity of people from every continent.

It is an innovative museum for both architecture and spaces design, and especially in the form of governance: it is the first in Italy with a management formula promoting a private-public partnership. The Milan City Council is responsible for the management, preservation and promotion of the cultural assets as well as supervision of the activities of the Forum of Cultures, while 24 ORE Cultura handles the organization of major exhibitions and MUDEC’s additional services.

Blocks with squared structure in crystal coated with zinc – with 24-hour lightning – with a geometric impact on the building. The new space is distinguished for the large central hall, a covered plaza, a place where different cultures and communities meet. A whole range of cultural events and facilities spread out over an area of 17,000 square meters:works of the permanent collection and the rooms used for major exhibitions as well as the auditorium, a theater, the Mudec Bistrot, Mudec Design Store, Mudec Club Restaurant.

From March the permanent collection will be accessible with guided tours, while at the end of Expo 2015,  the municipal ethnographic collections will open. The museum will be also the base of the Mudec Academy, offering full-time and part-time masters, interactive labs and evening classes. The first two exhibitions to kick off the museum activities are “Mondi a Milano” and “Africa”, opened in March 26.

MUDEC – Museum of Cultures

Milan – 56 via Tortona

www.mudec.it