Category: visual

After years of pressure from the Ethiopians, Italy agreed in 2002 to return a 1,700-year-old obelisk that was stolen by Mussolini and placed near the Coliseum. “So late last year a team of experts carefully dismantled the obelisk, dividing it into three pieces each weighing between 40 and 70 tonnes. The pieces were wrapped up and stored in a hangar near Rome. But now the Italian authorities have run into a hitch. They say they cannot find a plane big enough to transport the pieces safely.”

The venerable Boston Museum of Fine Arts, has lent 21 Monets to a gallery at Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel. Now the museum is “accused of having sold out to commercialism and flouted national curatorial guidelines in the name of profit. In the words of one critic, the Monets have not been loaned, they have been rented out. Under the terms of the arrangement, the museum should make at least $1 million from the expected 1,000 visitors a day during the run of seven and a half months. Admission is $15.”

In the UK “stolen art masterpieces are being used by crime gangs as ‘get out of jail free cards’ to trade for more lenient sentences. The criminals stash paintings and other works of art and use them in plea bargaining for other offences, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s arts and antiques unit has revealed.”

“The Franklin Mint, the company known for its eclectic range of pricey collectibles, from Scarlett O’Hara dolls to miniature John Deere tractors, has closed its 30 retail stores and its museum.”

London’s National Gallery has managed to buy Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks and prevent it from being shipped to America. “A price of £22m has been agreed between the gallery and the Duke of Northumberland. The Duke agreed to sell the painting to the J. Paul Getty Museum in California for £35m in September 2002.”

Spain’s Prado Museum is being attacked over plans to show contemporary art alongside Spanish masters Velázquez, Goya and El Greco. “The Prado’s director, Miguel Zugaza, ignited the controversy by inviting Miquel Barceló, who has used insects, meat and rotten plants in his works, to exhibit alongside some of the Madrid museum’s greatest paintings.”

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is working on a $180 million expansion. Yesterday it announced the addition of a new 10,000 square-foot underground gallery to the project. “The new Graham Gund Gallery, which will sit under a new East Wing, will house major temporary exhibitions. The space, part of an expansion to be completed in 2009, isn’t expected to add to the $180 million price tag.”

Citing the difficulty of raising $43 million, the Austin (Texas) Art Museum has canceled plans to build a new home. “The museum was designed in the late 1990s during a much stronger economic climate in Austin. Museum officials say they are beginning to look at other options for the museum.”

“A team at the University of Geneva have been using sophisticated 3D computer modelling technology to bring historical monuments to life. They have developed virtual reality models of two Turkish mosques dating from the Ottoman era of the 16th century which let you move around and explore the buildings in real-time.”

Britain’s National Trust heritage preservation organization is seeing a surge in membership. “New members joined the trust at a rate of one every 46 seconds last summer, faster than the British birth rate of one every 55 seconds. It now has 3.3 million members, making it the largest organisation in Europe.”