This was announced last Saturday at a ceremony held in London. The best building of the year in Great Britain was a museum built for the German Literary Archives in a small town near Stuttgart.
The new complex, located next to the Schiller Museum (Marbach is the hometown of the great poet), combines autographs and other documents related to the work of German writers of the 20th century and previously stored in various archives of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany.
The most impressive part of the ensemble is the visitor's clearly marked path to the museum entrance. It starts at the edge of the terrace with a breathtaking view of the Neckar Valley. Then there are several gentle steps leading to huge wooden doors. Then there is a short descent - and the route ends at the windows of the permanent exhibition sparkling in the dark.
In the case of the literary museum in Marbach, the architect's task was significantly more difficult than in most other museums. Indeed, in this case it was necessary to attract the public to the halls where books and manuscripts are exhibited, each of which can be read no more than one or two pages … Chipperfield's answer was to create - instead of an ordinary gallery - a sanctuary of great national literature.
