LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
[EDIT: Maastricht, March 16] Dear Editor: We have been trying to visit regional art museums outside of Maastricht recently and have been somewhat chagrined by the difficulty in finding the two that we finally could find. First of all we visited the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen. This art museum contained an amazingly large collection of Rembrandt sketchings as well as a very elaborate display of 'secret' messages placed on the reverse side by the artists and owners of these works. We found the name of this museum by running a Google search on the internet. This museum is located at the Wilhemstrasse 18 in Aachen. We found no obvious signs helping us find this museum and only by a bit of luck were we able to find a parking spot within 300 meters of the building. The staff there were courteous and helpful, although only one of the staff could speak a bit of English, but no English brochures or guides were available. This museum is located in one of the few buildings in central Aachen that appears to have been untouched by the massive air raids that destroyed much of the city in WWII. Therefore, the museum building itself is also of real interest. I doubt if there were more than 5 persons in the museum for the whole time we were there and the staff were disappointed that we did not spend more time there, especially with the 'secret' message exhibits. They gave us a very detailed brochure of this exhibit, but unfortunately only one of us could read German. Our next visit somewhat later was to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC) in Liege. Although, as we later found out, this museum is located next to their large 'Congress' hall, there was not one sign anywhere to be found as to how to reach this museum, so we finally did find the place after at least 45 minutes of driving around and asking locals for directions. We nearly gave up trying to find it when at the time that we finally came close to the museum and found a 'do not enter sign, local residents only' in French. This museum was indeed open, but although there was a very large area right in front of the front door to the museum, it had been blocked off with large concrete blocks. We had to park more than 100 meters away. We all found it very strange that such an effort had been made to keep visitors as far away as possible and wondered why access to this museum was made so 'unfriendly'. Nonetheless, we did manage to go inside and were pleasantly surprised by this collection. Works of Rodin (2 exquisite bronzes), Picasso, Chagall, Ensor, Gauguin, etc. All this housed in this beautiful turn of the 20th Century building used for the 'Universal Exhibition of 1905'. Once again no brochures in English and only one staff member that spoke a few words of English. There are still more area museums in the area to be visited, but we do wonder if they will all be so hard to reach. One of us is handicapped and neither museum had a handicapped spot to use. We wondered out loud if someone's real intention, by not supporting these museums in any ostensible manner, was to get them to shut down entirely! The museum in Liege would perhaps make an excellent facility for a casino, one might imagine. More practically speaking, if all the best exhibits could be put in one regional museum, then such a collection would, I think, draw much greater attendance and funding for all. Thank you,
We are reprinting this letter to the Editor that we received during the TEFAF exhibition because it does point to an issue in Meuse-Rhine, which is the general absence of comprehensive information in English in a range of areas. During the TEFAF, L1 produced some narrowcast information which is a start in respect of that event, but English language information throughout the Meuse-Rhine area clearly requires attention.
Dr. Cort M. Johns