”A good building is not enough. It is the activity and the quality of the program that brings success””.
Renzo Piano, the architect behind Vandalorum, values the site highly, the place where his architecture will become a part of the future. He values and allows himself to become inspired by local materials and building methods. For this reason, his museums are not based on a preconceived idea, but instead “grows from the ground up”.
At the current location of Vandalorum, between the center of Värnamo and one of Sweden's busiest highways, was once a monumental barn for drying hay, painted red and with an ingenious roof construction. Renzo Piano Building Workshop has now, through his drawings, let this barn expand into eleven barns, placed in a ring for a natural tour through exhibitions and other functions with a protective courtyard for all kinds of activities.
Renzo Piano is also a master of light with demands on what the ideal conditions are for our experiences. As a result, Vandalorum is not only a work of art by itself but can also be characterized by its level of functionality and quality.
Pontus Hultén and Renzo Piano at the place where Vandalorum is located today.
The name Vandalorum was contributed by the museum director Pontus Hultén, who was involved in the early stages of the project. In 2001, Hultén created a major exhibition at Knäppfabriken in Värnamo, called "the True Story of the Vandals", presenting the notion of a historical link between the nomadic Vandals and Småland. Hultén found the genitive form Vandalorum on a monument over Queen Christina in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The full text is "Svecorum Gothorum et Vandalorum Reginae" - Queen of the Swedes, Geats and Vandals. Today, the word Wends is preferred, but it is uncertain whether this refers to the same people.