Museum

The British Museum Goes Glam: London’s Answer to the Met Gala

The British Museum, the prestigious London institution, is hosting its first-ever fundraising gala on Saturday — a lavish and glamorous event aiming to rival New York’s Met Gala, and above all, to raise money to offset declining public subsidies. The museum, which holds one of the largest permanent collections in the world, says it aims to ...

Qatar Reveals Ownership of Courbet Masterpiece, Loans It to Paris’s Musée d’Orsay

Qatar has revealed itself as the owner of a famous self-portrait by French realist master Gustave Courbet and will loan the painting to Paris's Musee d'Orsay for five years, museum officials said on Monday. "The Desperate Man" depicts Courbet with a wild-eyed stare looking out of the canvas in a work that is one of his best known alongside "The ...

Paris to Welcome Free Public Picasso Park, Opening in 2030

A park featuring Picasso sculptures is to open to the public in central Paris in 2030, with free entry, the head of the city's Picasso Museum told AFP on Sunday. The garden, about the area of two Olympic-size swimming pools, will be an extension to the museum and will contain a dozen bronze sculptures by Pablo Picasso, the official, Cecile Debray, ...

Motswedi: Botswana’s 2,488-Carat Gem Draws Global Cultural Interest

The world's second-largest diamond could soon find a new home in a museum or a sheikh's collection, but first needs to be properly evaluated, the Belgian firm holding it told AFP Monday. Unearthed last year in Botswana, the 2,488-carat stone known as Motswedi is currently being analyzed by gem dealer HB Antwerp in the namesake port city ...

France Confirms Loan of Bayeux Tapestry to British Museum Amid Conservation Concerns

French President Emmanuel Macron's office stressed Monday that the planned loan of the nearly 1,000-year-old Bayeux Tapestry to Britain next year was a surmountable challenge following expert outcry over the diplomatic gesture. Several heritage advisors have argued that the extremely fragile 11th-century masterpiece depicting the Norman conquest ...

The Metropolitan Opera Reimagines Itself with New Themes and Celebrity Stars

The iconic Metropolitan Opera of New York is continuing its evolution amidst financial challenges, launching its new season this Sunday with a politically charged opera featuring a comic book superhero. The season also welcomes actress Sandra Oh, known for her roles in Grey's Anatomy and Killing Eve, in a beloved opera-comique. The Met is ...

Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh’s Gold Bracelet Melted, Sold Cheaply

Egyptian police said on Thursday they arrested a museum employee and three alleged accomplices after a priceless ancient gold bracelet was stolen from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, sold for about $4,000, and then melted down. The 3,000-year-old bracelet, a gold band adorned with lapis lazuli beads, dated back to the reign of Amenemope, a pharaoh of ...

Viking Ships Make Final High-risk Voyage to New Oslo Home

Three 1,200-year-old Viking ships that have stood the test of time are embarking on their final and possibly riskiest journey to their new forever home in Norway. The first to relocate is the Oseberg, which on Wednesday slowly made its way from its current location in the old Viking Ship Museum, arriving intact with a newly built addition that ...

Smiling Viking Figurine Discovered After Centuries in Denmark

Denmark's National Museum unveiled Wednesday what it described as the first "portrait" of a Viking: a miniature 10th-century figurine depicting a man with an imperial moustache, braided beard and neatly groomed hairstyle. Carved out of ivory walrus tusk, the partially damaged representation of a head and torso measures just three centimeters (1.2 ...

France Returns Colonial-Era Human Remains to Madagascar

France on Tuesday returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be a Malagasy king beheaded by French troops during a 19th-century massacre. The skull presumed to be that of King Toera and two others from the Sakalava ethnic group were handed over at a ceremony at the French culture ministry. French troops beheaded ...

Painting the Heat Away: Vienna Museum Uses Art to Cool Urban Spaces

Equipped with an infrared thermometer, Austrian artist Jonas Griessler measures the sweltering heat in an inner courtyard in the center of Vienna. Thanks to his collective's art work covering the black asphalt with a multitude of bright colors, the ground temperature has dropped from 31C to 20C. Initiated by the museum showing the private ...