Monthly Archive for January, 2012

Picasso Works Stolen From Greece’s Largest Art Museum

Published on January 29, 2012 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Carlos Boettcher from ABC News

Thieves executed a brazen early-morning burglary of Greece’s largest art museum Monday, making off with three works, including one by the 20th-century master Pablo Picasso.

The burglars were able to take advantage of the National Art Gallery’s soft security, which was short-staffed because of striking workers, officials said.

Greece, beset by riots, strikes and economic pressure, has had to make numerous cuts in the public sector, including museum security.

The heist was successful thanks to a combination of planning, patience and timing, officials said. Alarms were intentionally set off numerous times Sunday, leading the guards to disable at least one of the alarms, providing the thieves easy entrance through a balcony door.

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Titanic Auction Not Popular at Maritime Museum

Published on January 23, 2012 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's Auction House, stands next to a model of the Titanic, during a press conference and preview of Titanic artifacts on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012 in New York. The complete collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the RMS Titanic will be auctioned by Guernsey's Auction House in April. Photo by Bebeto Matthews from The AP

By Kelly Shiers from The Herald News

The sale of more than 5,000 artifacts salvaged from the world’s most famous shipwreck is causing concerns for a local museum official.

Concerns serious enough the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will never consider hosting the Titanic relics — even as a temporary exhibit.

“No maritime museum in the world that is part of the (International Congress of Maritime Museums) would display any of these items,” the museum’s registrar Lynn-Marie Richard said in a recent interview.

The recovered objects from the ship are set to be sold to the highest bidder, almost a century after the unsinkable vessel sank after hitting an iceberg, taking more than 1,500 passengers and crew to an icy grave in the North Atlantic.

The New York City auction has captured worldwide attention. Its very existence possible only after years of legal wrangling that now allows RMS Titanic Inc. to sell the incredible collection including a mesh purse, sunglasses, a bronze cherub that once adorned the ocean liner’s grand staircase, china and jewelry.

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Top Museums in Spanish Capital Post Record Attendance Numbers Last Year

Published on January 15, 2012 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

From The China Post

Madrid’s top three museums — the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza — received a record number of visitors last year as blockbuster exhibits drew crowds despite a weak economy.

The private Thyssen-Bornemisza, which displays works by artists ranging from El Greco to Picasso, posted the biggest rise in visitor numbers of the three museums that make up the Spanish capital’s so-called “Golden Triangle of Art.”

It drew 1,070,390 visitors, a 30.4 percent jump over the previous year and the biggest number since the museum opened its doors in 1992.

The rise is due to the success of the seven temporary exhibits it held last year, longer opening hours and an increase in the number of visitors to Madrid, the museum’s director general Miguel Angel Recio said.

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Joanneum Museum Extension by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos and Eep Architekten

Published on January 7, 2012 in News. 0 Comments

Photo by Roland Halbe

From dezeen magazine

Cavernous holes in the courtyard of three museum buildings in Graz, Austria, lead underground into a new, shared entrance by Spanish architects Nieto Sobejano and local firm eep architekten

The extension adds a conference hall, reading areas and an archive to the Joanneum Museum complex, which comprises a regional library, an art gallery and a natural history museum.

Glass surrounds the conical openings and each one tunnels down through one or two storeys to bring diffused natural light into the underground rooms.

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China’s Tomb Raiders Laying Waste to Thousands of Years of History

Published on January 2, 2012 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Workers excavate a 1,700-year old brick tomb in China's Jiangsu province. But often thieves get there first, sometimes just bulldozing their way in. Photo by the AP

By Tania Branigan from theguardian

China’s extraordinary historical treasures are under threat from increasingly aggressive and sophisticated tomb raiders, who destroy precious archaeological evidence as they swipe irreplaceable relics.

The thieves use dynamite and even bulldozers to break into the deepest chambers – and night vision goggles and oxygen canisters to search them. The artefacts they take are often sold on within days to international dealers.

Police have already stepped up their campaign against the criminals and the government is devoting extra resources to protecting sites and tracing offenders. This year it set up a national information centre to tackle such crimes.

Tomb theft is a global problem that has gone on for centuries. But the sheer scope of China’s heritage – with thousands of sites, many of them in remote locations – poses a particular challenge.

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