The opening of the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei has been delayed until next year.
Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre's opening has been delayed again to 20 February 2022. Photo: RNZ / Sam Olley
The centre's opening had already been delayed two weeks, to 15 December, but it will now open on 20 February.
In a written statement, Hātea Art Precinct Trust chair Thomas Biss said Covid-19 had held up art deliveries from Europe, and building supplies for areas including the accessible stair lift connecting the rooftop garden to the gold cupola.
"The impact of the pandemic has been felt deeply throughout the Northland and Auckland regions and this has prevented Wairau Māori Art Gallery from being able to assemble their inaugural exhibition."
"This has been compounded by the inability of technicians to come across the border from Auckland for specialised work and installations," he said.
The centre has been nearly 30 years in the making - with world-famous Austrian designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser first sketching it in the 1990s.
It has cost more than $33 million to build, mostly funded by a Provincial Growth grant and donations.
The Wairau Māori Art Gallery for contemporary art will also open with the centre next year.
It will be the first public Māori art gallery solely dedicated to profiling Māori artists and curators.
Wairau Māori Art Gallery board chair Elizabeth Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kuta, Ngāti Porou Te Whānau a Takimoana, Ngāi Tane) said: "While we would have liked to have opened the inaugural exhibition earlier, what visitors will be able to experience in February will be well worth the wait and unique to Northland."
On 3 December, construction fences surrounding the building will come down and visitors will be able to walk around the grounds and go to the conjoined Aqua Restaurant and Bar.