Nov 7th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The long wait is finally over for the grand reopening of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. After being partially or completely closed for the past three years, the museum's vast collection is finally open to the public again, with twice the exhibition space it once had. The Ashmolean is the oldest public museum in the world, having opened in 1683, and while there have been a lot of ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
museums posts
Museum Junkie: Oxford's Ashmolean reopens today
Nov 7th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The long wait is finally over for the grand reopening of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. After being partially or completely closed for the past three years, the museum's vast collection is finally open to the public again, with twice the exhibition space it once had. The Ashmolean is the oldest public museum in the world, having opened in 1683, and while there have been a lot of ...First map to name America goes on display at Library of Congress
Nov 2nd, 2009 at 9:30AM:
Visitors to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., have a rare opportunity to see the first map that used the name "America" for the New World.
The Library has the only surviving copy of the famous Waldseemüller map, created in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller, a German cartographer living in France. The map was a major departure from earlier maps in that it relied less on the ...Museum Junkie: Manga and Moctezuma at the British Museum
Oct 31st, 2009 at 5:30PM: Trust the British Museum to have two completely different but totally cool special exhibitions at the same time. There's still time to catch Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, a dazzling collection of art from one of Mesoamerica's greatest civilizations. It focuses on the reign of Moctezuma II (1502-1520), who died at the hands of the Spanish conquistadores. He ruled over a large, complex civilization from ...Museum Junkie: The Art of the Samurai at the Met
Oct 10th, 2009 at 1:00PM: From the 12th to the 19th centuries, Japanese society was dominated by the samurai, elite warriors with a fierce code of honor. While wars were almost constant on the islands during this period, it was also a time of great artistic achievement, one that extended to the weapons and equipment of the samurai. Starting on October 21, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will host the ...Egypt in a rift with the Louvre over stolen artifacts
Oct 8th, 2009 at 8:00AM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/08/egypt-in-a-rift-with-the-louvre-over-stolen-artifacts/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, took a bold move yesterday in his on going struggle to get foreign museums to return antiquities taken from that country illegally. Hawass severed all ties with France's the Louvre over that ...Journey to the dark side of the moon
Oct 7th, 2009 at 1:30PM: On this day fifty years ago, humanity got to see something it had never seen before. On October 7, 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 3 orbited the moon and took photos of the "dark side". Of course, everyone already knew that the dark side isn't really dark. It gets just as much light as the side we see, but since it always faces away from Earth we've spent the last hundred thousand years ...McDonald's to move in next to Louvre
Oct 7th, 2009 at 1:00PM: McDonald's is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary in France by opening a new location in the Carrousel du Louvre. This underground mall connects to the storied museum that is home to the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. So, if the latter had arms, she could sport the former's smile with a Big Mac.
France is McDonald's biggest market outside the United States, despite the vocal local minority, and ...Museum Junkie: Anglo-Saxon treasure goes on display
Sep 24th, 2009 at 2:30PM: Prize pieces from a huge horde of Anglo-Saxon gold are on display at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The horde, found in Staffordshire by a metal detector enthusiast, is believed to be the largest such find ever in the UK, rivaling even the famous horde of the Sutton Hoo burial ship, pictured here. The Staffordshire Horde contains 1,500 pieces of gold and silver and appears to be the ...Have you seen. . .The Thing?
Aug 3rd, 2009 at 11:30AM: As you drive through the desert along I-10 you see them--garish signs beckoning you to explore the mystery of "The Thing?" The signs are everywhere, 247 of them stretching from Arizona to Texas. The journey is long and boring, punctuated only by bad country music and Born-Again preachers on the radio. Finally you make it to Exit 322 at Dragoon, Arizona, and see the cheap yellow, red, and blue ...Bruce Lee's former home may become a museum
Jul 30th, 2009 at 11:30AM: digg_url = 'http://digg.com/travel_places/Bruce_Lee_s_former_home_may_become_a_museum'; The former home of actor and martial arts master Bruce Lee may eventually become a museum dedicated to the deceased star. Officials in Hong Kong have launched a competition to design the museum, and the owner of the home has offered to donate it and the HK$100,000 ($13,000) in prize money for the winner.
The ...Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia
Jul 27th, 2009 at 11:30AM: The news wires have been aflame for the past couple of months with reports of the amazing new fossil called Ida, which has been hailed as the fabled "missing link" just as Lucy was when it was excavated in Ethiopia in 1974. Journalistic hyperbole aside, they're remarkable finds, and now you can see both of them in Times Square, New York.
A traveling exhibition called Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden ...Major archaeological discovery in Egypt. . .in museum basement
Jul 26th, 2009 at 12:30PM: Egyptian archaeologists have been taking a break from the sun lately to excavate the hidden depths of the national museum in Cairo, reports Archaeology News. They're refurbishing The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities before opening a bigger museum near the pyramids at Giza. Part of the project is to go through all the poorly recorded artifacts that have been languishing in the basement since they ...Cap off your summer in style at the Kimberly Hotel in Manhattan
Jul 22nd, 2009 at 4:00PM: Manhattan's rarely cheap. So, even if you can get a kickass flight, you're still stuck lamenting the hotel rates and dinner prices – not to mention spending a fortune on cabs. The Kimberly Hotel is about to make this easier. If you're looking to get your kids to the top of the Empire State Building before school starts, you still have time to squeeze in a trip this summer with a nice ...Museum Junkie: Museum of the Good Samaritan opens in Israel
Jul 9th, 2009 at 12:30PM: One of the world's largest mosaic museums recently opened in Israel.
The Museum of the Good Samaritan displays artifacts from the many cultures that lived in the region. The main attractions are the intricate mosaics found in synagogues in the West Bank and Gaza.
The museum is located on the highway between Jerusalem and Jericho near the ancient town of Ma'ale Adumim in the West Bank, believed ...Stay at Hotel Jules in Paris, grab free museum access
Jul 5th, 2009 at 4:00PM:
Even with cheap flights and hotel rates, Paris can be an expensive place. But, you have to go at least once ... preferably as often as possible. So, I was pretty psyched to see the new deal from the Hotel Jules, a pretty stylish place in the 9th Arrondissement. Through the end of the year, the hotel is offering two nights, daily breakfast (continental or in-room) and a two-day pass for two people ...Amster-done? Try Delft
Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:00PM: Amsterdam has long been a favorite for travelers, whether they are dope smoking hedonists or art loving dilettantes (or both) but what many visitors don't realize is that the city offers a wealth of fun day trips. Here's one of my favorites.
Delft is less than an hour by train from Amsterdam and is filled with history, beauty, and good food. What more could you ask for? Oh, and there are coffee ...Museum Junkie: Hermitage Amsterdam launches grand opening
Jun 24th, 2009 at 3:00PM: A branch of Russia's famous Hermitage museum opened to the public last weekend in Amsterdam. The giant Hermitage Amsterdam houses treasures from St. Petersburg including costumes, jewelry, furniture, and art from the time of the Tsars.
The museum's opening was done with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Fireworks, a full orchestra, and a visit by the Dutch royal family entertained a vast crowd ...Along the Hudson: The Hudson River School and top places to see the paintings
Jun 15th, 2009 at 11:00AM: Four hundred years ago, when Henry Hudson first saw the river that was named after him, I imagine he felt inspired by its beauty. The river not only captivated Hudson's attention motivating him to take a look-see far up into its reaches, it has also inspired artists to capture its essence, literally and figuratively.
There are places along the Hudson River's shores where you can imagine painters ...Museum Junkie: Futurism at the Tate Modern
Jun 14th, 2009 at 9:00AM: "Today we are founding Futurism, because we want to free our country from the smelly gangrene of its professors, archaeologists, tour guides and antiquarians."
On February 20, 1909, the front page of the Italian newspaper Le Figaro was taken up with the Manifesto of Futurism, a new movement of artists, poets, and performers who revolutionized modern art. They rejected all the past--traditional ...Museum Junkie: Royal Ontario Museum hosts Dead Sea Scrolls
Jun 12th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Visitors to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto this summer will have a chance to see the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
"Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World" will showcase some scrolls that have never before been seen by the general public as well as numerous artifacts from the period. There will also be a series of lectures by leading religious and secular scholars.
The scrolls, found in ...
