Museu Sa Bassa Blanca - Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober

Museo Sa Bassa Blanca - Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober

The Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober’s main objectives are the conservation and restoration of Spanish Heritage or designated landmarks and also the furthering of the Fine Arts, especially the exhibition of painting and sculpture, artistic interchange and all endeavours which give access to such persons who show interest in this field, the main area of activity being the Balearic Islands.

Collections

One of the most unique collections of its kind in Europe consisting of more than 150 Portraits of Children, Nins, dating from the XVI to the XIX centuries designated as national heritage. Some of these are permanently exhibited to the public in a converted underground reservoir.

The main building conceived by the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in 1978 houses the Karlweis Wing, where the largest collection in the world of paintings, sculptures and drawings by Domenico Gnoli (Rome 1933-New York 1970) are on show, with another room dedicated to Rebecca Horn. There are also works by Alan Rath, Miralda, Meret Oppenheim, Takis and Ben Jakober / Yannick Vu.

In the new SoKraTES space it is possible to admire extraordinary pieces such as the Swarovski curtain 7m wide and 4m high made of 10.000 Crystals, the Pleistocene fossilised skeleton of a Woolly Rhinoceros, as well as works by Miquel Barceló, Gerhard Merz, Dolores Vita, and Ben Jakober / Yannick Vu.  There are seven glass showcases containing ancient masks and votive pieces from Nepal, Tibet, Peru, the Himalayas and Africa creating a dialogue between the contemporary and ancient art.

A recent addition is a Sculpture Park, where children and adults may get acquainted with art by way of monumental granite sculptures inspired by animals figuring in Antiquity, all in a bucolic setting.

Architecture

The outstanding feature of Sa Bassa Blanca is undoubtedly the building designed by Hassan Fathy (Cairo,1900-1989). He was already 78 years old and had never built anything in Western Europe when he drew up the plans of the Hispano Moresque building, which he called a “ribat”, retaining only the outside walls of an existing farmhouse of the property. White crenellated walls, traditional vaults and domes punctuate the otherwise flat terraces of the edifice sur- rounding a central courtyard with gardens and fountains. Most windows are covered by wooden lattices called “mushrabeyehs” and the doors and floor tiling are antique elements brought from Andalucía, Northern Spain and Morocco. The existing “Aljibe” or underground water reservoir was transformed into an exhibition space in 1994 and in 2007 the new underground area “Sokrates” was brought into service. Neither competes with the architecture of the great Hassan Fathy.

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