REPORT OF MR. HINTON.
113
Imperial Ball House was lent for a temporary abiding place for the Museum, and it was opened May 31, 1864. By the gifts of the Court and State the Museum was rapidly increased, and many collections were procured. The need of a special building for the Museum was more and more apparent. On February 7, 1867, a deputation of curators waited on the Emperor, and asked to be allowed to proceed with the erection of a permanent Museum. The permission was given, and in the fall of the same year the plans of Architect Heinrich Ritter von Ferstel were submitted and approved. The building was completed November, 1871, and was then opened.
It is in the Italian Renaissance style. The exterior walls are of red brick, trimmed with sandstone. Portraits of artist celebrities, executed in majolica, are placed around the building- Entering, we go through the vestibule, where are two tablets, commemorating the foundation of the Museum and the Art-School, from which a door on the right leads into a closed court; on the left are the steps leading to the school floor. Vestibule, court and stairs are adorned with appropriate ornaments. The square court, extending the entire height of the building, is surrounded by arcades, supported hy pillars and monoliths. Light comes through a double glass roof. Around the court are eight exhibition halls.
The Museum comprises collections of objects in all branches of Art and Industry; gypsum figures, a library, drawings, ornamental pieces, photographs, etc. Companies and private persons, besides artists and industrial workers, can exhibit their work in a hall reserved for that purpose. Admission to the Museum is free four days in the week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays a small fee is charged, and even then artists are admitted free. The library is open weekdays from nine to two, and Sundays from nine to one. During the winter months it is also open Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. On Mondays one-half of the collection ls closed for cleaning. Articles exhibited are copied for the drawing department by photographs, photo-lithographs, gal- anaplastic impressions or gypsum. Protographic reproductions and the gypsum processes are wrought out in the a telier of the Museum. Copies of these can be obtained 15