Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 111
Working on a
National Treasure
The National Gallery was founded in 1824, with the first 38 paintings donated by the
private art collector John Julius Angerstein. They were originally housed in his townhouse
at 100 Pall Mall, before it was agreed they should be moved to a more substantial,
permanent residence.
The National Gallery building in Trafalgar Square was
designed by William Wilkins and opened in 1838. Since that
time, numerous alterations and additions have been made to
the gallery to enhance the visitor experience. The National
Gallery is widely considered to be one of the leading art
galleries in the world and houses over 2,300 masterpieces.
hard landscaping and cleaning and restoration. There was a
strong emphasis on repurposing the spaces and reuse of as
much material as possible.
Our involvement with the project began during the
demolition phase (by others) with a phase of general enabling
works where we removed stone from various locations in the
Sainsbury Wing and installed temporary works to allow for
new openings to be made within the internals, the basement
link and removal of stone to replace with columns. One of
the more complicated elements of the project, in terms of
manufacturing and installation, was the new, substantial slab
edge to the foyer area of the Sainsbury Wing. The Portuguese
stone, Gascoigne Blue, was chosen with a flamed finish
that provides an interesting surface texture and a design
incorporating very large format units with a curved profile.
Both these factors had implications on the application of the
finish to the surface and the installation of the pieces. Due
to the restricted working area within the building, the pieces
were installed using mini floor cranes that projected over the
edge.
To celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the gallery, the
NG200 project was launched in May 2024 with a programme
of inspiring exhibitions throughout the year and some major
improvement works to the Trafalgar Square buildings.
Szerelmey were involved in these complicated and very varied
works, which is the second time the company has worked at
the Gallery (1996), and it is always a privilege!
The project involved two key areas, reconfiguring the
ground floor entrance of the Grade I listed Sainsbury Wing,
creating new spaces and opening up the area to make a more
welcoming space for visitors. Secondly, reconfiguring the
external space to the front of the Wilkins Building and the
entrance onto it including the reuse of materials, paving and
Below, entrance foyer, photo courtesy of The National Gallery
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