Museums & Heritage

With end of US government shutdown, National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian museums start reopening

Areas of the National Gallery of Art and parts of the Smithsonian were open to the public for the first time in more than a month on Friday

Art sector could collectively cut over five million tonnes of CO₂ a year, report suggests

Gallery Climate Coalition’s inaugural Stocktake Report shows the difference the art sector can make when it comes to the climate—but the next five years are crucial, says chair Frances Morris

Children curate exhibition of Clyfford Still works inspired by their reservation

A hundred students from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation contributed to Clyfford Still Museum’s new show

Tate workers face in-work poverty, mental and physical health issues, union says—as strikes expected across UK

Following the announcement of week-long strikes at Tate galleries across the country, the Public and Commercial Services union has raised concerns about their members' welfare

Syrian officials issue—then delete—statement identifying ancient Roman statues stolen from Damascus National Museum

The country’s ministry of culture yesterday shared images of six nude sculptures of the goddess Venus via social media—but within hours the post had been removed

Art Gallery of Ontario gets gift of more than 450 works

The lion’s share of the donated pieces, from the late collectors Carol and Morton Rapp, are prints and photographs

A new hope: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art sets September 2026 opening date

The $1bn museum co-founded by the ‘Star Wars’ director George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, will open its futuristic doors next autumn in Los Angeles

Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, devoted to ceramics, reopens after $11m renovation

The museum now boasts a gallery dedicated to Indigenous ceramics, expanded education facilities and enough space to display around 40% of its collection

Artificial installation: artist hangs own AI-generated work in Welsh museum

The rogue print was on show at National Museum Cardiff for a few hours before it was spotted by staff

Fired director sues Philadelphia Art Museum

Sasha Suda claims in a lawsuit that she was terminated after she “clashed with a small, corrupt and unethical faction” of the museum’s board of trustees

Opening of Museum of West African Art in Nigeria delayed after protests

The official preview weekend for the museum in Benin City was disrupted when a group of protestors broke in

New York’s Studio Museum—known for championing Black artists—reopens in $300m new home

The legendary institution, which took seven years to build, reopens with an exhibition devoted to the works of Tom Lloyd

Peru’s mysterious ‘band of holes’ site may have been bustling marketplace

New analysis of the 1.5km-long site consisting of thousands of holes suggests they may have been used to measure and trade commodities

National Trust rejects pressure group’s claim that its buildings are ‘under-insured’

The UK charity has responded to a resolution put forward by Restore Trust, calling for its historic properties to be protected against ‘any eventuality’

Vatican Museums will return rare Indigenous kayak to Canada

The Vatican is working with the Canadian Catholic Church to return Indigenous artefacts

San Francisco Arts Commission votes to dismantle Vaillancourt Fountain

Decision comes just days after city planning department determined fountain eligible for National Register of Historic Places designation

Louvre’s €666m plans for new entrance ‘financially unsound’—and security should come first—auditor says

The much-anticipated report from the Cour des comptes points to issues with the management of the Paris museum and calls for a rethink of priorities

Leaderscomment

Comment | As the US’s 250th anniversary approaches, museums must keep pushing the American story forward

The Phillips Collection was founded amid a president’s calls for a return to “normalcy”, and today the museum is addressing a city and a country grappling with a similar dynamic

Inside the Jewish Museum’s $14.5m renovation in New York City

The institution's revamped third and fourth floors present reconfigured galleries, expanded education spaces and a luminous display of more than 100 menorahs from around the world

First Americans may have sailed from north-east Asia, new research suggests

New research comparing stone tools found at sites across the US and on Japan’s northernmost island suggests a different timeline and mode of travel for the first humans to arrive in North America

Opening date for London’s V&A East Museum announced

The institution will join venues for the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East and London College of Fashion in the new East Bank cultural quarter

Philadelphia Art Museum’s director ousted following divisive rebrand

Sasha Suda had been in the role for three years, but board members complained of a lack of transparency around the institution's recent rebranding

Italy condemns ‘shameful’ comments from Russia after medieval tower collapse

A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson linked the caving in of Rome’s Torre dei Conti—which led to the death of a worker—to Italy’s support for Ukraine, sparking backlash

Lacma staff move to unionise as $720m new building nears completion

The union would represent more than 300 workers at the museum across departments including curatorial, education, publications and more

Chilean retiree returns Ancient Greek marble fragment his father took in the 1930s

Enrico Tosti-Croce’s father, an Italian naval officer, had taken a piece of the Acropolis during a visit to Athens

Netherlands will return stolen ancient statue—featured at Tefaf art fair in 2022—to Egypt

The 3,500-year-old stone head was found to have been “stolen and illegally exported from Egypt” after a rare tipoff from a member of the public

Have security guards’ shifting remits left the Louvre vulnerable to a heist?

A growing emphasis on visitor experience at museums across the world is putting objects at risk, argues a leading security expert

Louvre heist the work of ‘petty criminals’, Paris prosecutor says

The suspects charged so far do not appear to be linked to any high-level crime networks, according to Laure Beccuau

‘Proof that life goes on’: meet some of the people working to rescue—and re-energise—Ukrainian culture

As Russian attacks continue, art is being made, commissioned—and saved—by citizens and organisations

Miami collectors donate 36 works by African and diaspora artists to Tate

Jorge and Darlene Pérez have also funded a “multi-million dollar endowment” to support Tate’s curatorial research