The $19 million expansion of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth is moving toward completion by August and a public debut in November.

The biggest change visible right now are the huge concrete panels that show horses galloping around the top of the building. The museum describes them as monumental bas-relief panels celebrating the women and horses of the American West.

These are not decorative accents, but massive, story-driven works of art designed by an architect from Paris, France, fabricated in Hillsboro and installed by a Fort Worth-based construction company.

“There’s 70 running horses on the building. The heaviest panel, precast panel, is about 45,000 pounds. Overall, concrete and rebar and total weight of the panels is about 1.2 million pounds,” said Trey Silva, the project manager for Linbeck Construction.

Transporting and installing them was a logistical accomplishment. Full-height panels arrived one by one, while smaller sections travelled two to three at a time before being carefully set into place.

It all started, though, with an idea from Reza Azard, architect and founding partner of Projectiles in Paris, France. The firm was key to the $5.5 million renovation of the museum’s second floor in 2018.

Azard told NBC 5 that the inspiration came from the work of Étienne-Jules Marey, the inventor of chronophotography, a set of photographs of a moving object. The panels at the top of the Cowgirl Museum depict a galloping quarterhorse.

“It was a long process from pictures and to understand the muscles, the head, the body, the legs, et cetera, how to make at first to have the right picture of a quarter horse,” Azard said.

Another big undertaking for Azard was designing a new entrance to the Cowgirl Museum. It will now face Dickies Arena, improving visibility and accessibility for guests.

The signature feature of the 16,000-foot expansion will be a custom carousel on the second floor, designed and built by San Francisco–based boutique maker BARRANGO.

Construction will be done in August with a public debut planned for November.