Museums & Heritage
Influencers: is it time for museums to go all in?
As an advertising agency pays Instagram influencers to promote museums, is it really worth shelling out thousands of dollars for added publicity and to reach new audiences?
Who was buried in Ornans? Restoration of Gustave Courbet’s intriguing masterwork may offer clues
The Musée d’Orsay hopes the restoration of ‘A Burial at Ornans’—once a Salon scandal, now a pride of the Paris museum—will unlock some of its secrets and reveal the painting to be even bigger and bolder than it appears now
France returns ancient artefacts to Ethiopia in diplomatic ‘handover’
The French culture minister insists the move is “a handover, not a restitution, in that these objects have never been part of French public collections”
Museum’s therapeutic art programme helps military veterans find their voices
Art for Vets initiative at Currier Museum of Art in the US encourages personal expression under the care of a full-time art therapist
Inside Aliph, the organisation racing to save the world’s heritage
An in-depth look at the inner workings of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas
Ancient Maya city of Ucanal was contaminated with mercury, study reveals
Newly published research shows just how pervasive mercury—an essential element in the red cinnabar pigment favoured by the Maya—is at the site in Guatemala
A bridge between worlds: Central Asia’s first private Modern and contemporary art museum to open in Kazakhstan
Almaty Museum of Arts will house more than 700 works by Kazakh and Central Asian artists, while also presenting an substantial collection of international art
‘Intimate, personal, nuanced, complex’: Victoria and Albert Museum reveals winner of Jameel Prize 2024
The latest edition of the £25,000 prize, awarded every three years to an artist inspired by Islamic traditions, is themed around moving image and digital media
US authorities return four artefacts from Ban Chiang archaeological site to Thailand
The items, which include a vessel and bracelet, had been gifted to a US soldier more than 50 years ago
Museu de Arte de São Paulo to finally open $43m expansion project in March 2025
A new building adjacent to the Brazilian museum’s original home will more than double its total space
Seven years on from Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to return Africa’s heritage, frustration grows about the lack of progress
An Ivorian drum will be returned—though only under a special “deposit agreement”—while a crucial colonial bill has stalled
Fit for a king: Egyptian museum in Turin unveils new galleries for monumental ancient sculptures
The dramatic revamp of the Italian institution’s Gallery of the Kings is part of a broader renovation that is due to complete in 2025
Welsh government hopes to boost tourism and heritage with proposed ‘tourist tax’
Wales may follow cities such as Venice in introducing the controversial levy
Ancient Egyptian priestess’s remains found in father’s tomb
Remains from Middle Kingdom era, along with coffins and funerary objects, were found at the bottom of a hidden shaft south of Cairo
The limits of transnational women’s solidarity in Mexico City’s art scene
Recent episodes of censorship at two of the city’s leading art museums have laid bare the rifts between artists, institutions and their publics
How abandoned oil wells are threatening US heritage sites
There are over three million orphaned wells across America, most of which were installed before environmental and cultural protection laws were enacted
Climate activists who dumped red powder on US Constitution at National Archives sentenced to prison
Donald Zepeda and Jackson Green were also involved in the paint attack on Degas’s ballerina and writing “Honor Them” on a wall last year at the National Gallery of Art
Caravaggio portrait, unseen for decades, goes on view in Rome
The portrait of Maffeo Barberini was first attributed to Caravaggio 60 years ago, but had not been publicly displayed until now
Controversial Science Museum sponsor charged in US over alleged bribery scheme
Gautam Adani—who lends his name to the museum's Adani Green Energy Gallery—was indicted in New York on charges including securities fraud
Rotterdam’s new museum of migration, Fenix, to open in May
Droom en Daad foundation funds new collection and renovation of dockside warehouse centred on spectacular new double-helix Tornado
Indigenous mound in St Louis is transferred to the Osage Nation
Along with the land transfer, the city of St Louis acknowledged the Osage Nation’s tribal sovereignty and their ancestral rights to the site
Vancouver Art Gallery expands Asian art programme with $1.1m gift
The museum’s renamed Centre for Global Asias seeks to “recognise the many Asias that exist, within the geography of Asia itself and in the global diaspora”
UK's National Lottery at 30: who are the culture sector's winners and losers?
National Lottery players raise more than £30m every week and fund over 700,000 projects across the UK—but when it comes to funding the arts, some say the scheme is in need of an overhaul
Unesco steps in to protect Lebanese heritage sites
Following an “extraordinary” meeting, the heritage body has put 34 historic sites on its enhanced protection list
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s director removed following staff complaints
Stephanie Stebich, who had led the institution since 2017, has been reassigned to a senior advisory role
Toledo Museum of Art uses cryptocurrency to acquire digital art piece
The museum used USD Coin to buy an NFT in a new series by the artist collective Yatreda ያጥሬዳ
Lisbon’s museum scene booms as new and revamped institutions are unveiled
With the reopening of the Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, the Portuguese capital is developing a lively contemporary art landscape. But its “cool” reputation brings challenges as tourism soars
‘The forgotten factor’: nations at Cop29 call for official recognition of role culture can play in climate recovery
A campaign to give arts and heritage “a seat at the table” for negotiations at the annual summit already has the support of around 40 countries and more than 1,500 civil society organisations
Garden party: one of the largest and most historic gardens in the US reveals its transformation
Pennsylvania’s Longwood Gardens unveils its $250m renovation and expansion project on 22 November
Remains of second victim of 1985 Philadelphia police bombing discovered at Penn Museum
The museum, which previously came under scrutiny for possessing the remains of another victim of the MOVE bombing, has been conducting an inventory of its biological anthropology section