The appearance of MUCEM is the main, but not the only event of the year in Marseille, which plays the role of the European Capital of Culture 2013: in addition to it, the Stefano Boeri Cultural Center and the Norman Foster Pavilion appeared in the Old Port. But MUCEM is a much larger undertaking, conceived back in 2000. This is perhaps the first museum in the world dedicated to the Mediterranean as a whole - a region unique in its richness of history and culture.
The museum, located on the former pier J4, according to the architect's plan, faces the skyline and the Africa beyond, and thus unites the two shores of the Mediterranean.
The building is a square with a side of 72 m, inside which is hidden another square, already with a side of 52 m, where there are two levels of exhibition galleries and a conference hall for 325 people. In the gap between the façade and the “core” of the building, there are staircases that visitors climb during the inspection. As a result, they find themselves on the roof, where they will pass through a 115 m long pedestrian bridge (77 m span) to Fort Saint-Jean, where the second part of the museum's exposition is located. The bridge, the openwork facade and roof covering the glass prism of the building, tree-like structural supports - all of them are made of heavy-duty fiber-reinforced concrete.
The total area of the building was 15,000 m2, of which the exhibition halls account for 3,600 m2 (there will be a permanent exhibition, which is replaced every 3-5 years, and temporary exhibitions). The budget of the new building, including the design of the exposition, amounted to 113.4 million euros, and in total 191 million euros were spent on MUCEM, which also consists of Fort Saint-Jean and the restoration and archival center in the city.
