Heritage

St Michael the Archangel takes flight

A 19th-century statue from Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy was airlifted from its perch above the island abbey to be restored

Moscow’s ‘Soviet Versailles’ to be restored to its former glory

But the project includes a controversial history exhibition that tries to rehabilitate Stalin’s image

Venice is Europe’s most endangered heritage site, watchdog warns

Group is urging politicians and business leaders to act before it’s too late

France and Britain prepare for battle over Joan of Arc’s ring

Jewel sold in UK for £300,000 last month has left the country—but did it have an export licence?

A heritage site far, far away: Star Wars film puts Irish island monastery in the spotlight

Local businesses want to extend access to island Skellig Michael to accommodate eager fans, but preservationists fear that crowds will threaten the medieval ruins and sea bird colonies

A heritage site far, far away: Star Wars film puts Irish island monastery in the spotlight

Local businesses want to extend access to island Skellig Michael to accommodate eager fans, but preservationists fear that crowds will threaten the medieval ruins and sea bird colonies

First cultural destruction trial opens at The Hague’s International Criminal Court

Former teacher Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi is accused of alleged war crimes for ordering the razing of mausoleums in Timbuktu

Cambodian warrior comes home: Denver Art Museum returns Khmer statue

The sculpture, which was probably removed from the Koh Ker temple complex during the country's civil war, is the last of its kind to leave a US public collection

Twelfth-century Virgin shows her true colours

Rare Russian icon originally written off as a “ruin” has finally been restored

A timeline of African American history, told through quilts

Pieces in the Bruce Museum show cover cultural milestones and important figures, from the early Civil Rights activist Ida B. Wells to 1967 Supreme Court case about interracial marriage

More than 500 cultural objects returned to Ecuador

Ancient artefacts and colonial-era art repatriated from Argentina and Spain

Yemen battles to save ancient heritage from destruction

Museum in Taiz latest casualty of conflict in which more than 40 sites caught in the crossfire of Saudi-led bombing campaign and fundamentalist attacks

Altamira caves raffle plan is ‘nonsense’, says Spain’s culture secretary

Local tourist minister has proposed auctioning tickets to the heritage site to help raise funds

Artnews

Painting by Rembrandt’s favourite pupil given UK export bar

Government hopes a public collection can match £5.2m asking price for Ferdinand Bol’s Portrait of a Boy

Lords put pressure on UK government to sign Hague Convention this year

Move could allow cultural heritage experts to set up Blue Shield headquarters in London

French museum reunites head with decapitated Khmer statue

The Musée Guimet has returned the ancient sculpture to Cambodia as part of a five-year loan agreement

Isil extremists destroy Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery

The destruction, which went unreported for 16 months, raises fears that other sites have been attacked

Artnews

National Trust to restore fire-devastated Clandon Park

Original owners say shell should be demolished after 95% of the English Palladian mansion’s interior was destroyed

Suspected arson at Fontainebleau church

Historic furnishings damaged and around a dozen objects missing or destroyed

Artnews

France builds grand alliance to protect cultural heritage

Louvre director’s plan calls for co-ordinated response to destruction in Syria and Iraq

Celebrated director of World Monuments Fund retires

Bonnie Burnham made the organisation, which turns 50 this year, into a global powerhouse

We’ll store your artefacts, US tells Syrian museums

New framework stresses return principle but some fear that traffickers in illicit objects could abuse it

Italy’s culture workers threaten national protest

While government moves to limit right to strike by reclassifying museums as “essential public services” on a par with schools and hospitals

First hearings held in the Hague over alleged cultural heritage war crimes

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi appeared at the International Criminal Court this week in connection to 2012 attacks on Timbuktu

Mecca’s collapsing crane was part of a criticised building boom

Saudi Artist Ahmed Mater has captured the rampant redevelopment around the Islamic holy place