Kansas City, Mo. - Imagine glass structures rising out of the landscape illuminating the night sky. Visitors descend through five levels of galleries with natural light and curved ceilings overhead, discovering masterpieces by French Impressionists and photographs from the earliest days of American photography. This is just a taste of what you'll find in the new Bloch Building at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which opened to the public on June 9.

Designed by world-renowned architect Steven Holl, the building is receiving international attention. Time magazine called it the "Most Anticipated New Building" of 2007. And architecture critics across the nation are giving the building rave reviews, with the The New York Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff calling it "a near perfect work" and The New Yorker's Paul Goldberger describing it as "one of the best museums of the last generation."

"Our entire community applauds the Nelson-Atkins Museum on the completion of the beautiful Bloch Building," said Rick Hughes, president of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. "We look forward to welcoming travelers from around the world to discover one of the country's premier art museums and the rich collection of attractions that Kansas City has to offer."

The Bloch Building is the museum's first expansion since its opening in 1933. Slender and elongated, the majority of the 840-foot-long building exists underground along the east side of the original Nelson-Atkins Building. Five freestanding structures, called "lenses," emerge from the ground to immerse the building into the surrounding landscape. By day, light is reflected into the building's galleries. At night, the lenses glow softly like Japanese lanterns, illuminating the landscape.

Equivalent to a 67-story office building lying on its side, the Bloch Building expands the museum by 71 percent. The wing serves as the new home to the museum's collections of contemporary art, African art, featured exhibitions and the museum's newly acquired Hallmark Photographic Collection, which is considered the most broad-ranging and important collection of American photography. Two featured exhibitions open the new building: "Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection" through Sept. 9 and "Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885," which runs through Dec. 30.

The new building also houses a new entry lobby, reference library, café, sculpture court and space for featured exhibitions. The first phase of the expansion project-including a new parking garage, entry plaza and reflecting pool-opened in August 2002. The $200 million expansion also includes the new Ford Learning Center, dedicated in September 2005, and a renovation of the original 1933 museum building.

Admission to the Nelson-Atkins is always free, however featured exhibitions require tickets. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The museum is closed on Monday.

The expansion project at the Nelson-Atkins is just a hint of the changes taking place around Kansas City. The metro area is in the midst of a $7.5 billion renaissance with many major attractions set to open this fall, including the $850 million Power & Light District, the 18,500-seat Sprint Center arena and the College Basketball Experience (featuring the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame). Recent openings include the new 46,450-square-foot Grand Ballroom at the Kansas City Convention Center (April 2007) and the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial (December 2006). For more information about Kansas City, go to VistKC.com or call 88-VISIT-KC2.

About the Nelson-Atkins
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is nationally and internationally recognized as one of America's finest general art museums. With a permanent collection that contains more than 34,500 works of art, The Nelson-Atkins is best known for its Asian art, European paintings, modern sculpture and photography. For more information, visit www.nelson-atkins.org.

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Photo Credit:  Photos Courtesy of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association

	Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Bloch Building Caption: The new Bloch Building at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened on June 9, 2007. Download:  Low-Res; High-Res
	Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, exterior (south) Caption: The lawn of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art resembles a badminton court with 18-ft.-tall sculptures, titled "Shuttlecocks." Download:  Low-Res; High-Res
	Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, exterior night Caption: The new Bloch Building at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened on June 9, 2007. Photo credit: Timothy Hursley. This image is not available for download. Download:  Click here to request image.