Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/32

14 business. The Historical Museum in Hamburg has recently begun a new building on the plans of which the Director and architect had worked for three consecutive years before a single stone was laid. The consequence is, that the plan is as nearly perfect as one can hope to find in this present day. Whether in this country we should have the patience to spend three years on plans or not is a question, but time should be allowed for the Director and building committee to see that the plan is complete in all its details and to make changes and revisions.

Turning now to a consideration of the separate points, we find that the exterior may safely be left to the architect, but only after the interior has been carefully planned out. In the building of the Rautenstrauch-Joerst Museum in Cologne [Foy, Dr. W., Ethnologia, Städtischen Rautenstrauch- Joerst Museum, Cöln; Leipzig, 1909. Museums Journal, vol. VI, p. 408, discussion of Dr. A. B. Meyers' paper on Museum Cases] the type of cases which would best display the objects was first considered, then the kind of light and size of room that would be most effective, and finally the exterior which would fit this interior. It matters little what style is adopted, provided that it does not interfere with the needs of the interior. The material of which the museum is