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# The ivy and the museum
- URL: https://monograph.peachfin.site/the-ivy-and-the-museum/
- Published: 2026-08-21T08:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T22:01:39.000Z
- Description: A museum facade that has disappeared under ivy, and the gardeners who decide how much of it to keep.
- Author: Mira Okafor
- Tags: Cities, #Import 2026-10-13 14:19

From the square the museum looks like a hill with windows. The ivy was planted in the 1930s to soften a new wing; it has since taken the old one too.

![A museum building almost covered in thick green ivy under a grey sky](https://monograph.peachfin.site/content/images/2026/10/ivy-facade.jpg)

The east front in October, before the leaves turn.

Twice a year a team of gardeners cuts it back from the windows and the gutters, and leaves the rest. Their rule is simple: the ivy can have the walls, but not the openings.

Inside, the galleries on the east side are noticeably cooler in summer. The curators have stopped complaining.