The museum’s history is closely tied to that of Melbourne, and the infamous gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s. Beginning …show more content…
The National Gallery of Victoria Art School was built in a portion of the museum as served as on of Australia’s greatest art schools until 1910 (The National Gallery of Victoria). As the city of Melbourne continued to grow into the metropolitan area it is today, forms of modern technology such as trains, cars and other engines filled the city overtime. As an early, formalized and generally well-funded government project, the NGV was able to expand side by side with the ever-developing population. Perhaps the most notable museum achievement has been its Australia Collection, which contains some of the most famous works from Australian artists (About NVG). This artistic beacon doubles as a notable historic period during the early 20th century when Australia as a country began to assert it’s own artistic independence from that of its previous European predecessors (The National Gallery of Victoria and Building …show more content…
However, the NGV has had to overcome several complex and devastating natural occurrences. The Melbourne-Victoria area has encountered disasters that range from flooding to fires and devastating heat waves (Natural Disasters Australia). Each of these has presented unique challenges for the modern NGV Conservation Team. As the main part of the museum dedicated to preserving the art, the organization also encourages and raises awareness in the surrounding community to ask for support in maintaining artwork against the periodic environmental challenges. The most notable of these beings periods of extreme drought followed by flooding (Natural Disasters Australia) in which the most sensitive pieces must be actively monitored and potentially stored at times to avoid damages by fluctuating air quality and humidity (About NVG). Modern technology has allowed for a greater ease in monitoring and predicting conditions and while this has not always been available, continued support from the government in earlier times prevented too much damage of significance from happening early