The customers were a couple of entrepreneurs and collectors - Viktoras and Danguole Butkus. Their collection consists of works by 226 Lithuanian artists from the 1950s to the present day - about 5,000 works of painting, graphics, sculpture, photography and video art. The MO Museum was designed by the workshop of Daniel Libeskind in cooperation with the Vilnius bureaus Do architects and Baltic Engineers.
The building is located on the border of the Old Town, on the line of the disappeared fortress walls, where the irregular medieval layout merges into the grid of 18th century quarters. On the site of the museum, there used to be a modernist cinema Lietuva (1965), which was acquired by the initiators of the MO project for demolition.
The setting of the historic buildings defined the appearance of the museum: it is a block with bright white plastered facades. It is cut through by an open staircase leading to the terrace, which can be used during the warmer months for public discussions or performances. A glazed wall connects it with the exhibition halls. Another important public space is the sculpture garden at street level.
The entrance to the building is from the north, in a glass wall, behind which there is a two-story lobby. Glazed openings in the interior allow a glimpse into the upper and lower levels, as well as into the storeroom; a black spiral staircase connects the lower level of the lobby and the main exhibition hall. The total area of the museum is 3100 m2, the permanent and temporary exposition is 1300 m2. MO also has a café, a bookstore, an educational center, an auditorium, the aforementioned storeroom, and administrative offices.
