Building projects

Plans for world's biggest Picasso museum in south of France scuppered

Aix-en-Provence city council says that sale fell through after negotiations with artist’s stepdaughter broke down

Sigmund Freud Museum reopens in Vienna after a €4m expansion

Family's private apartment, displays about psychoanalysis and collection of conceptual art go on view

The next Tate Modern? Helsinki power plant to become vast new arts hub under city masterplan

Hanasaari plant will be at the heart of burgeoning Suvilahti culture district

'Grand Egyptian Museum will be finished this year': behind the scenes of the giant $1bn project

We take a tour of Egypt’s vast antiquities museum—the future home of Tutankhamun’s treasures—before its long-awaited opening in 2021

Sydney's Powerhouse Museum saved from sell-off, but debate rages on

NSW government scraps controversial billion-dollar relocation plan but faces questions from community groups and parliament

Notre Dame's spire to be rebuilt the way it was—but use of lead likely to spark new controversy

French President Macron makes u-turn after first suggesting the 19th-century spire, which was destroyed in the fire last year, should be replaced by a contemporary design

Kentucky philanthropist launches ambitious arts hub and 'incubator' in the Appalachian mountains

Entrepreneur and contemporary art collector Brook Smith plans to turn former coal-mining region into a "cultural destination"

Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture plagued by delays after top curators quit

Turkey’s national modern art collection, closed off for much of its 80-year existence, will be hard-pressed to open $25m new building this year

Saudi Arabiaanalysis

Are Saudi Arabia's big culture plans turning to dust?

As oil prices slump and the pandemic continues to spread, the kingdom's ambitious initiatives are being scaled back

Coronavirusanalysis

Russian museums in crisis: State Hermitage projects losses of almost half its annual revenue after closing for two months

Loss of tourism and oil market crash because of coronavirus pandemic wreak havoc as institutions seek state help

Prizesnews

Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight wins Pulitzer prize

Writer was recognised for his criticism of Lacma’s controversial expansion plan

Patrick Devedjian—French politician and driving force behind new museum dedicated to the Sun King—has died of coronavirus

Devedjian was leading plans for a museum project in Saint-Cloud, west of Paris, about the reign of Louis XIV

Anonymous €20m donation kickstarts Musée d’Orsay transformation

Radical revelopment of former train station building will make way for more Impressionist works and visitors

Not bigger, but better: behind the scenes of the £35.5m revamp at London's National Portrait Gallery

Director Nicholas Cullinan and architect Jamie Fobert reveal how the gallery’s controversial three-year closure will transform its 600-year collection of portraits

EMST—National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens finally opens its doors

The institution welcomes the first visitors to its renovated home in the former Fix brewery this week, after years of delays

Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum postponed because of coronavirus

The X Museum in Beijing has also delayed its opening show

Museumscomment

Letter to the editor | Necessity, not secrecy, will close NPG’s doors

Nicholas Cullinan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, responds to criticism about the museum's three-year closure

Revamped, renamed, reopened: Musée Ingres Bourdelle honours Montauban's masters

After €13m expansion, French museum brings together works by painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and sculptor Emile-Antoine Bourdelle

Budapest’s green mayor puts brakes on €250m New National Gallery

Local politicians block construction on cultural quarter backed by right-wing government, citing “enormous impact on environment”

Hong Kong Museum of Art to reopen in spite of escalating violence of pro-democracy protests

Launch of revamped government-run museum to go ahead as planned following $119m facelift

Togo opens ground-breaking arts centre in former colonial palace

Palais de Lomé is the west African country's first major contemporary art centre and is unique on the continent for being financed by the state

German parliament approves extra costs for Berlin Museum of the 20th Century

The €364m budget is “a real pain threshold,” culture minister says

Russianews

Moving to the suburbs: vast museum collections centre destined for 'New Moscow'

State Tretyakov Gallery among 23 Russian museums planning to store and show works near former killing field Kommunarka

Gus Casely-Hayford, director of Smithsonian’s African art museum, to lead V&A East

The British cultural historian will take up his role at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new branch in the spring

Brooklyn Academy of Music opens its first gallery for visual art

The exhibition space, named after trustee and art collector Beth Rudin DeWoody, launches during annual New Wave Festival with works by Glenn Kaino

UCCA Center for Contemporary Art to open space in Shanghai

New outpost of the Beijing-based institution is due to open in 2021

Orlando chooses its memorial to Pulse shooting victims

More than three years after the massacre, a winning design has been selected for a $45m museum and memorial campus, but some survivors and victims’ families would rather it stay unbuilt.