Anna Somers Cocks

Religionanalysis

Breaking a taboo: religion is being invited into three major museums

Working with Visual Commentary on Scripture, London’s National Gallery and Berlin’s Bode Museum and Gemäldegalerie are uniting art and theology

Photographyanalysis

Photographer's haunting images of the traces of Nazi extermination resonate with today's Bloodlands of Ukraine

Judy Glickman Lauder's photographs taken around 1990 take on new meaning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Charles III’s coronation: the ceremonial objects explained

Plus, Karl Lagerfeld in New York and Marlene Smith’s Good Housekeeping III

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Anna Somers Cocks. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Julia Michalska
Sponsored byChristie's

How the war in Ukraine reveals the heightened politics of Unesco

Boycotted Russia resigned as chair of the World Heritage Committee last month

Venice erects glass barriers around St Mark’s basilica to fight flooding

The decision to keep the Venetian lagoon's barriers open and allow more ships into the port had left the church without protection and vulnerable to water

Canova’s monument gets protection from Venice's challenging conditions

Vast pyramid containing sculptor’s heart has been restored with Venice in Peril funding, but will need continuous care and protection from worsening weather and pollution

What do exiled Russian art world figures think of the war? We spoke to three in Tbilisi to find out

A museum director, theatre director and artist describe the lack of hope—and warn that cultural sanctions may cause the intelligentsia to unite against the west

Do the Taliban regret blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas? New government takes steps to protect heritage

Leaders of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan says it favours the conservation of the tangible heritage—including pre-Islamic monuments—but economic sanctions are getting in the way

Artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh is freed after more than eight years in Saudi prisons

A religious court sentenced him to death for blasphemy in 2015. Saudi artist Ahmed Mater says times have changed and this would be unlikely to happen today

At the 2015 Biennale we gave six reasons why Venice was doomed. Guess what: it still is

From the impact of the global sea level rise to Unesco’s abandonment of the city, the situation is looking bleak. Has anything changed for the better in the past seven years?

Photographer captures victims of war in Ukraine, past—and future?

Joseph Sywenkyj's series Wounds documents the aftermath of the armed conflict in the Donbas region

Auctionsanalysis

What's a Caravaggio worth if it’s on a ceiling and you may not remove it for sale? We'll soon find out

The Ludovisi Casino in Rome, with its masterpiece frescoes, is up for auction by the courts, estimate nearly half a billion euro

Sea-level rise will kill Venice by 2100: as Cop26 begins, cultural body appeals to Italian prime minister for urgent action

Scientists, historians and writers are lobbying Mario Draghi to create a new authority to protect the city from rising waters

Jasper Johns: a radical look at a colossus of post-war American art

Plus, Venice's tourism problem and Finnish artist Outi Heiskanen

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. With guest speaker Anna Somers Cocks. Produced by Julia Michalska and David Clack. With Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Venice is not in danger, according to Unesco

For the third time, the World Heritage Committee has voted not to add the Serenissima to list of sites at risk

Venice comment

The IPCC’s predictions of sea-level rise are why Italy should beg Unesco to put Venice on its at risk list

It would support the difficult measures the government will have to enact to save Venice from certain death. But Unesco is toothless

Italy bans cruise ships from the Venice lagoon from 1 August

Unesco and citizen action groups have campaigned for the move for years

Why some people still care passionately whether St Jerome was Italian or Croatian (he was neither, actually)

An exhibition in Split shows that being 1,600 years old does not take you out of politics

Seven sites, including Venice, may be added to Unesco in Danger list

Of the 53 sites on the list—which will be reviewed at a committee meeting next month—only four are in the West

Venice comment

The damnation of Venice: locals are being systematically driven out by officials who are selling off sites for tourism

Venetians are leaving the city in thousands because rents are unaffordable, while more than 11% of social housing stands empty

Venice comment

Has Venice really banned cruise ships? It appears not

The Italian government must intervene against powerful forces opposed to change

Only connect: Icomos and Europa Nostra join up to influence European Union’s one trillion euro Green Deal

Conservation experts and lobby group launch a Green Paper to put Europe’s heritage at the heart of the EU’s greening policy

Abu Dhabi’s next mega museum is back on track—now with a director

UAE’s withdrawal from a disastrous and costly war in Yemen means it can refocus on an ambitious cultural agenda including the opening of Zayed National Museum

Six scholars fool the public with invented documents about the date Venice was founded

On 25 March, the city began celebrating 1,600 years of its history—but the date is somewhat fishy

V&A to say goodbye to departments by material—woodwork, metalwork etc—and 20% of its curators

Museum's director Tristram Hunt says that government help has not been enough to cover all costs incurred by pandemic and admits “curators will be more stretched”

Culture war erupts over Venice mayor's closure of Doge's Palace and other civic museums until April

Luigi Brugnaro's "entrepreneurial" decision violates Venice's historic agreement with Italian state to keep the landmark open to the public

Johnny Eskenazi: from wannabe theatre director to leading Eastern art dealer who rescued stolen Afghan ivories

Top Indian sculpture dealer warns against a too rigid interpretation of the 1970 Unesco Convention

Europe's 12 most endangered heritage sites announced

From a steam cog railway to the baroque Venetian palazzo abandoned by the Armenians , Europa Nostra chooses candidates for its 2021 Seven Most Endangered Sites list