museums news stories on Newser

Turkey to US Museums: We Want Our Stuff Back

John Johnson — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:36:45 CDT

Turkey has taken note of how neighbors Italy and Greece have cajoled US museums into returning their long-lost antiquities, and it wants in. The government has asked four American facilities—the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Harvard's Dumbarton Oaks collection—to return a...

World's Strangest Museums

Sarah Whitmire — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:04:05 CDT

The Huffington Post celebrated International Museum Day this week by compiling a list of some of the world's weirdest museums in the world. The Museum of Bad Art : A celebration of the lame and tacky in Boston. Iceland Phallological Museum in Husavik: The name refers to penises, and there's even...

'Miracle on Hudson' Jet Heading to NC Museum

Mark Russell — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:38:10 CDT

More than two years after Chesley Sullenberger crash-landed his plane into the icy waters off New York City, the Airbus A320 dubbed "The Miracle on the Hudson" is going on display at a North Carolina museum, reports the AP . The plane has been sitting in a northern New Jersey warehouse...

The Unfortunate Fall of Chicago's Peace Museum

Luke Kelly-Clyne — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 13:47:19 CST

Some of the most prized symbols of American peace have been languishing in water- and mold-damaged storerooms, disregarded items that are about to be doled out to other institutions in the Peace Museum's sad, final chapter. Last month, the Illinois attorney general was awarded control of numerous relics once contained...

The 20th Century's Biggest Art Heists

Evann Gastaldo — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:15:00 CDT

Yesterday’s massive theft from the Paris Museum of Modern Art is already being called the “heist of the century,” although we have a few years yet to see how it holds up. The Independent looked over the 20th century and compiled a list of 10 major art thefts. View a...

Thieves Grab Stolen Antiquities Exhibit

Rob Quinn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:19:00 CST

A museum exhibit featuring "Antiquities Theft in Israel" has become the victim of antiquities theft in Israel. Thieves broke into the museum in Ashdod, southern Israel, and stole the display of items recovered from the black market, the Telegraph reports. The antiquities theft squad that recovered the items, including a...

Museum Puts 'Martian Colony' on Display

Rob Quinn — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:03:33 CST

A London museum that unwittingly hosted a fossilized colony of Martians for decades has put the alien life on display. NASA scientists who recently examined the Natural History Museum's fragment of the Nakhla meteorite believe bumps on its surface are fossilized Martian microbacteria, the Telegraph reports. The meteorite crashed into...

China To Scour Museums for Looted Art

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:40:00 CDT

China is about to send teams of artifact hunters to the world's top museums to track down looted art treasures. They'll be on the lookout for art from the splendid Imperial Gardens of Yuan Ming Yuan, more commonly known as the Old Summer Palace, which was used by Chinese emperors...

Nation's Top Museums Free Tomorrow

Rob Quinn — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:06:37 CDT

Admission to over 1,200 museums across America will be free tomorrow as part of the Smithsonian's annual "Museum Day." The event is aimed at promoting culture and removing "any economic barrier" keeping people from enjoying museums, a Smithsonian exec tells USA Today . Museum-goers will need a Museum Day admission...