Officials with The Menil Collection announced June 17 that a historic structure on the art museum's campus will be repurposed over the next year and a half to become a new space for semi-permanent, site-specific commissions.
The history
The space, known as the Fresco Building, has been closed for nearly a decade, according to a news release on the project. It served as the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum from 1997 to roughly 2018 and housed two 13th-century frescoes that were restored and held on extended loan from the Holy Archbishopric of Cyprus, a religious leader from one of the oldest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world.
After the frescoes—described as paintings that are usually created on walls by applying water-based pigments on specific types of surfaces—were returned to Cyprus in 2012, the chapel was deconsecrated and ultimately closed in 2018.
