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Lithuanian Government approves Hadid-designed Hermitage-Guggenheim Museum project in Vilnius
Just two months after the Hermitage and Guggenheim Museum’s announced that Zaha Hadid had won an international competition to develop a design for a new museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Lithuanian government announced Wednesday that it has approved the project’s construction. According to preliminary estimates, the museum will cost $117 million of which the Lithuanian government is to pay 10 to 15 percent of the total.

According to Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas the idea of this museum in Vilnius is highly important. "This project will present Lithuania’s image as that of a modern dynamic country," he said.

The building, which will be situated near the White Bridge, is expected to complete in 2013, the year when Lithuania will preside over the EU. It is anticipated that the project will open with a Kandinsky exhibition with works contributed jointly by the Hermitage and the Guggenheim Museums.

Sharon McHugh
US Correspondent
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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