Museums & Heritage

Fra Angelico’s earliest surviving altarpiece returns to Fiesole after restoration reveals hidden throne

The work, created by the young friar-artist and updated later by Lorenzo di Credi, has undergone careful repair and cleaning

London mayor Sadiq Khan calls for city's public museums to remain free to enter

‘Free museums and galleries are a fundamental part of London life’, says the long-serving Labour mayor in a new op-ed

Reconstruction of legendary Sutton Hoo ship takes shape

The seventh-century Anglo-Saxon burial ship is due to take to the water in May 2027, following a lengthy reconstruction process working from decayed remains

‘It would represent an irreversible loss to Scotland's cultural record’: potential sale of Glasgow art centre’s archive sparks outcry

There have been protests and a petition since the archive of Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) was listed among the assets of the insolvent organisation

Royal Museums Greenwich workers vote to strike over pay and working conditions

The strike across the east London museums will occur on 11 and 12 August as Prospect union pledges to step up industrial action across the heritage sector this summer

Collector Bernardo Paz plans new museum in Brazil next-door to Inhotim

Although no longer involved with Inhotim, Paz appears to be reviving its model of art pavilions in a botanical landscape

UK artist Conrad Shawcross sounds alarm on Jodrell Bank Observatory funding cuts

The Unesco World Heritage site, located in northwest England, is home to the UK's largest telescope

Family of donor who helped establish Canadian Museum for Human Rights to pause support over Palestine exhibit

The Asper family’s foundation last donated to the museum in 2023, and Gail Asper says she has indefinitely paused a personal gift of C$50,000 over a display about the violent displacement of Palestinians

Comment | The Obama Presidential Center aims high, like a Gothic cathedral

The building’s epic art commissions play a big role, compelling visitors upwards

Lessons from Notre-Dame inform reconstruction of Copenhagen Stock Exchange building

After fire destroyed half of the historic red-brick structure in 2024, its owners’ ambitious goal is to rebuild even faster than the French did with the Paris cathedral

Sites in Iran, Lebanon and Palestine among 25 new additions to Unesco’s World Heritage List

Three new properties were inscribed under emergency procedures and simultaneously placed on the World Heritage in Danger List

Culture minister Catherine Pégard reveals ‘national security plan’ following another major museum theft in France

The French Culture Ministry has budgeted €30m over three years to improve security at local museums and has issued a 33-point action plan

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi announces opening date

The latest museum in the Guggenheim network will open on 11 December 2026, twenty years after its original 2006 announcement

Trump orders signage to be erected outside Smithsonian museum warning visitors of political bias

US president’s executive order comes after the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History was grilled by a congressional subcommittee

Possible ancient human remains and Maya ceramics found in Mexican cenote

The discovery deep inside a sinkhole in Playa del Carmen has prompted a new research project to date and protect the remains

Earthquake damages 16th-century church in Peru

A 5.1-magnitude quake on 18 July caused the collapse of the roof and part of the facade of the colonial-era Iglesia Apóstol Santiago, one of the oldest churches in the Peruvian highlands

Buffalo AKG Art Museum will split leadership duties in two and promote internally for new directors

Chief curator Cathleen Chaffee and deputy director Jillian Jones will serve as artistic director and executive director, respectively

Unesco adds ancient Greek city Tauric Chersonese in Crimea to World Heritage in Danger list

The decision comes after calls by Ukraine to protect the archaeological site, which is now managed by a Russian Orthodox cleric appointed by Vladimir Putin

Ecuador’s national museum picks new design for $100m home following pushback to original selection and resignations

After criticism on social media, the government scrapped the original selection of a design by Estudio Campo Baeza and Maoda, opting for a proposal led by the Japanese firm Sanaa

Three Ancient Egyptian tombs with ‘significant’ inscriptions discovered in Saqqara necropolis

Rare carvings may reveal important information about New Kingdom era connections to the Near East and ancient domestic life

Jessica Morgan named new Tate director

Currently the director of Dia Art Foundation in New York, Morgan will succeed Maria Balshaw as director of the UK museum network from January 2027

Lisbon's Museu Calouste Gulbenkian returns to its mid-century modern roots following major renovation

The Portuguese private art collection, which features fine and decorative art from antiquity to the 20th-century, reopened on 18 July

Museum acquisitions round-up: a Kandinsky ‘Improvisation’ and a canvas by Minimalist pioneer Agnes Martin

Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter institutional collections worldwide

London mansion where ‘secret listeners’ spied on Nazi prisoners for intel opens as museum

Trent Park House of Secrets tells the story of how mainly Jewish refugees covertly transcribed conversations from the building's basement

Renovation of Bolivia's national archaeology museum gives repatriated treasures pride of place

The museum in La Paz had been closed for a year; its new permanent collection exhibition includes a mummified girl repatriated from the US and an Andean sculpture that was stolen by a Swiss traveller in the 19th century

Head of V&A’s academic programmes resigned citing ‘racist’ and ‘culturally insensitive’ behaviours, letter reveals

Yuko Kikuchi wrote a letter to the museum’s leadership that was supported by 12 academics and included student testimonials

Union threatens strike action over working conditions in Venice museums due to extreme temperatures

The Unione Sindacale di Base says it has formally signalled a labour dispute—usually a first step towards possible strike action—as Italian institutions remain above 30C for weeks

As Andy Burnham becomes the new UK prime minister, here are five key challenges facing his culture ministry

From the future of the Arts Council to AI, there are several complicated issues for the incoming culture secretary to tackle

Minneapolis Institute of Art hires Kevin Tervala to lead curatorial

The curator moves to Minnesota after more than ten years at the Baltimore Museum of Art

US congress introduces bill to protect public art in federal buildings targeted by Trump administration

The Preserve Act specifically sites Washington, DC’s Cohen Building—the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal”