Groninger Museum travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

Visitors leaving Groningen train station are greeted with late twentieth-century Postmodernism‘s most astonishing buildings. The Groninger Museum, designed by Alessandro Mendini may seem willfully random, but the plan is based on museum collections and functions. Photo by: KAPturer

The dominating, gleaming gold tower, clad in laminate panels, houses collections storage, offices, and the main entrance. It is based on former gasometer. Beside the tower, Mendini placed two lower pavilions, green and pink, containing education rooms and cafe. To the west of the tower, connected by a semi-submerged passage, is a red brick pavilion designed by Michele de Lucchi; red brick was the traditional building material of Groningen’s historic quarter. Photo by: Jan Luursema

Inside the museum, designer Philippe Starck‘s aluminum cylindrical pavilion cylindrical pavilion is a collection of 8,000 pieces of Oriental ceramics. At the eastern end of the complex is Coop Himmelblau‘s exploded ‘open architecture’ Modern Art Pavilion, clad in patterned laminates. The site is bisected by a blue bridge. When is open for canal traffic, its underside is covered with fifty-six panels resembling Delft tiles. Photo by: Wim Dikkens

Outside the main entrance is a jokey, colorful sculpture by Mendini. Inside, the central spiral staircase covered in Italian mosaic is striking. The main entrance to the museum is in the side of the golden storage tower, below a triangular canopy. Location: Groningen, Netherlands. Photo by: Akbar Simonse