The Head of the Courtauld Gallery says the organisation deserves some “good luck” after its three year restoration project was held up by the pandemic.
Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen said there would be an “immense sense of joy” when the gallery in Somerset House reopens on Friday.
He said it was a coincidence the gallery, whose collection includes work by Van Gogh and Manet, was opening up again as the capital did the same.
He said: “That’s just good luck, but we feel we’ve earned a bit of good luck in three years of closure that had its challenges including Covid. We hope London and England and the UK will feel that this is a place they absolutely want to come to see and it’s the right time and in the right spirit of the moment.”
The multi-million pound re-fit brings the building, which was designed in the 18th century on the site of the Duke of Somerset’s home, up to date and he said its restoration was always “at the heart of project”.
He said: “There were a few surprises there ranging from the medieval cesspit we found in the basement that held us up to inevitably rotting timber beams and things like that but we love the building and I think now it loves us back but it was a difficult relationship in the first few months.”
Among the hold-ups were getting a large part of the collection back from Japan – where it had been due to go on show when the pandemic hit – and having to call in a team of archaeologists when the cess pit was discovered.
He said: “They started looking and digging and one week turned into two and three and the wall grew and grew and I think it was four metres deep.
“We did it really carefully because it’s such an important site and we had to set all other concerns aside and just see this through and found some really interesting things that will hopefully go on display.
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“It’s nothing spectacular just a button and a hair pin which someone must have thrown or dropped into the cess pit in the medieval period but we documented it all and eventually it was closed off so it’s there and covered over.
“It’s hard to overstate how important the site is. This obviously dates back from beyond the building of 1780 that we currently have and presumably to the old Somerset House and the arrangements along the Strand so it’s really interesting and just adds to the sense of history as you occupy the site.”
