This is Beirut

Smiling Viking Figurine Discovered After Centuries in Denmark

This is Beirut, 27/08 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Museum Danemark Culture Art Archeology Heritage

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

This is Beirut, 26/08 16:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Museum History Diplomacy France Madagascar Culture

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 ...

Trump Slams US Museums for Focus on ‘How Bad Slavery Was’

This is Beirut, 20/08 05:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

United States Donald Trump Museum Woke Culture

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized top museums for their "woke" focus on subjects including "how bad Slavery was," his latest attack on the cultural institutions in a country that fought a civil war over the issue. "The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, ...

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

This is Beirut, 15/08 14:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Art Climate Vienna Museum Austria Culture

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 ...

Egypt to Open Grand Museum Near Pyramids of Giza on November 1

This is Beirut, 06/08 19:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Museum Opening Heritage Egypt Culture

Egypt said on Wednesday that its much-anticipated new $1-billion archaeological museum near the Pyramids of Giza will officially open on November 1 after several delays. Authorities hope that the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which boasts the treasures of Tutankhamun among its collection of more than 100,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts, will ...

Madame Tussauds Honors Taylor Swift With Record 13 Wax Figures

This is Beirut, 24/07 13:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Museum Taylor Swift Wax Statues Madame Tussauds Britain Culture

US pop megastar Taylor Swift will be honored with 13 waxworks of her at Madame Tussauds venues around the globe, the museum said on Wednesday. In honor of Swift's lucky number, 13 of the waxwork museum's 22 branches will each receive a statue of the Love Story and Blank Space singer, in what it called the "most ambitious project" of its 250-year ...

France Museum Visitor Eats Million-Dollar Banana Artwork Again

This is Beirut, 19/07 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

France Art Exhibition Culture Comedian Museum

A visitor to a French museum bit into a fresh banana worth millions of dollars taped to a wall last week, exhibitors said on Friday, in the latest such consumption of the conceptual artwork. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — whose provocative creation entitled Comedian was bought for $6.2 million in New York last year — said he was ...

Another Delay for Egypt’s Grand Museum Shakes Tourism Hopes

This is Beirut, 15/07 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Museum Egypt Heritage Culture Art Exhibition

In the shadow of the Grand Egyptian Museum, souvenir shop owner Mona has been readying for the tourist boom she hoped the long-awaited opening would bring, now once again out of reach. "I had bet everything on this opening," she told AFP from her shop, just steps from the iconic pyramids of Giza, which the much-anticipated museum ...

How the Seine River Secretly Cools the Louvre and Paris

This is Beirut, 19/06 12:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Louvre Seine Paris France Museum

As Paris braces for a heatwave this weekend, a little-known network of underground pipes will be cooling the Louvre Museum and other storied landmarks using water from the River Seine. Since 1991, the river water has been cooling more than 800 buildings via a humble but hard-working system that is still relatively underutilized worldwide. Paris ...

Inside London's V&A Storehouse: A Treasure Trove Unlocked

This is Beirut, 12/06 14:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

London Museum Exhibition Art Culture

Imagine being able to visit a museum and examine up close thousand-year-old pottery, revel alone in jewelry from centuries past, or peer inside a Versace bag. Now London's V&A has launched a revolutionary new exhibition space, where visitors can choose from some 250,000 objects, order something they want to spend time looking at, and have it ...

A Dream Come True: Barcelona’s Miró Foundation Turns 50

This is Beirut, 08/06 14:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Miró Spain Barcelona Museum Exhibition Culture

A major cultural institution, the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a rich lineup of exhibitions, concerts, and special events paying tribute to the prolific Catalan artist. The festivities, taking place throughout the year under the slogan “For the People of Tomorrow,” begin Thursday with the opening ...

African Art Reimagined at Met Museum’s Revamped Wing

This is Beirut, 30/05 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Museum Culture Art NYC Met

From a delicate 13th-century clay figure to self-portraits by photographer Samuel Fosso, New York's Metropolitan Museum reopens its African art collection on Saturday, exploring the "complexity" of the past and looking to the present. After a four-year renovation with a $70 million price tag, the reopening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing comes ...

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