Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), a new 9,500sq m (102,257sq ft) attraction designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, has opened in Tasmania, Australia.

Located on a 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) peninsula overlooking the Derwent River, the museum is a three-level building excavated into the cliff face adjacent to Hobart's waterfront. MONA boasts a total of 6,000sq m (64,583sq ft) of gallery space, which incorporates 1,300 sq m (13,993sq ft) of touring gallery provision.

A 65-seat theatre for time-based arts and a 177sq m (1,905sq ft) library also feature as part of the new museum, which opened to the public last month. The man behind the scheme, David Walsh, said the building is intended to be "deliberately underwhelming" and aims to allow visitors to immerse themselves in the galleries.

Design features include recycled timber floors from a former West Australia wool storage shed and the three-storey-high MC Escher-like Corten stairway. MONA's opening exhibit - Monanism - boasts a collection of 2,210 works that is designed to represent Walsh, with more than 650 contemporary and modern pieces.

Image: Matt Newton/MONA