The Phoebus Foundation acquired at auction on April 18 the composite skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex), baptized Trinity. She promises to expose it to the public “in her project for a cultural center in Antwerp”, according to the Koller house which organized the sale.
A composite skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex, baptized Trinity, sold this week at auction in Switzerland for 5.6 million euros, will soon be exhibited in Belgium, announced the auction house, revealing that the buyer was a cultural foundation.
Trinity, which measures approximately 3.9 meters in height and 11.6 meters in length, is actually an assemblage of bones from three different T-Rex found between 2008 and 2013 in formations in Montana and Wyoming, in the North -Western United States, according to the catalog of the sale which took place on Tuesday April 18 at Koller in Zurich.
The T-Rex is a species that lived about 65 to 67 million years ago. On the evening of the sale, auctioneer Cyril Koller told AFP that Trinity belonged to an American collector and had been acquired by a European collector of dinosaurs and modern art. Fears had been expressed that it would stay out of the eyes of the general public and scientists.
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A T-Rex in Antwerp
But on Friday April 21, the auction house announced that the buyer was the Phoebus Foundation, a non-profit Anglo-Saxon foundation created by Fernand Huts, owner of the Belgian logistics group Katoen Natie. “Phoebus has announced its intention to show Trinity to the public in its project for a cultural center in Antwerp”according to a press release from the Koller house.
The Phoebus Foundation bought the Boerentoren (“the peasants’ tower”) two years ago to transform it into a public space for exhibitions and other cultural events. Built in 1931 and emblematic of Antwerp, it was the first skyscraper in Europe.
The famous American architect Daniel Libeskind “is currently working on the final design to convert what remains of the original Art Deco building into a truly unique architectural monument”, according to the press release, which specifies that the completion of the project will take several more years.
A skeleton “always available for research”
Trinity, which attracted 35,000 visitors during the more than two weeks it was on display in Zurich before the auction, will be permanently installed in this new cultural center. “The dinosaur will be on public display at the Boerentoren Center, where art lovers, researchers and enthusiasts as well as all other visitors can fully enjoy the history and beauty of art, science, architecture and more in all their facets”said the chief of staff of the Phoebus Foundation, Katharina Van Cauteren, quoted by the press release.
While waiting for the completion of the center, “we are exploring the possibility of lending Trinity to a museum so that the public can already enjoy this unique specimen”she added. “Scientists need not worry: like the rest of our collection, Trinity is available for research”.