JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mike Chinaka, interim president of the Bishop Museum, talked to the media yesterday morning in the main room of Bishop Museum's Hawaiian Hall, which has undergone nearly a year of renovation.
|
|
Museum hails Hawaiian Hall
Its restoration, though delayed, is intended to help save artifacts
Two more years and a few million dollars more will restore the Bishop Museum's Hawaiian Hall to its former glory.
Now, the hall's interior is thick with dust and debris, as well as several layers of new paint to give a warmer look, as opposed to the previous harsh white.
Originally slated to be finished this year, the hall's $21 million restoration project is expected to be complete in spring 2009, with at most $8 million more to raise.
But it'll be worth the wait, assured public relations director Charlene Aldinger, who likened the hall to a Hokule'a, except with four walls.
"It will present Hawaiian history in a very pristine and beautiful setting that is traditional yet full of conservation methods to protect and preserve the artwork," Aldinger said.
Yesterday, museum personnel offered a tour of the unfinished hall to media and officials from Bank of Hawaii, which donated $75,000 to the project.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Suzette Nied painted one of the dozens of new pillars a patina bronze yesterday inside Hawaiian Hall.
|
|
Hawaiian Hall was built by Charles Reed Bishop in the late 19th century, and is a Victorian gallery originally designed to preserve and showcase Hawaiian artifacts collected by his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi.
But the open-air ventilation and natural light made it difficult to conserve some of the more delicate artifacts, like feather caps. This is the first major renovation for the building.
The renovated hall is expected to house more than 1,000 artifacts, slightly more than before thanks to the planned improvements, said Michael Chinaka, museum interim president.
Electricity and other infrastructure is expected to be in place by September at the latest, he said.
The skylight, now open as it was originally designed to be, will be closed and feature artificial lighting designed to preserve the artifacts.
"If it's going to be a cloudy day, it would be really dark in here, and we have to have some control over the light," Chinaka said.
The hall closed in June last year, with Ralph Appelbaum Associates of New York, Mason Architects and Heath Construction Services responsible for the renovation.
Contractors also installed elevators that allow disabled access to all three floors. The elevator was in working order yesterday, but full of debris.
The hall's white paint was peeled and repainted to a softer, more brown look, matching the refinished native koa used in all the cabinetry, railings and trim. The pillars have been repainted with several layers of bronze.
Some of the large, free-standing artifacts, like the heiau, hale and kii, will remain where they were, while others like the sperm whale skeleton with papier-mache body will remain hanging as it did yesterday.
"The ceiling, it's fascinating to see it restored," said Al Landon, Bank of Hawaii chairman. "It's a cultural center of Hawaii, and it serves to educate so many of our people."