Stop Press

A compilation of media articles on heritage topics. Obviously, these all reflect the viewpoints of the authors.

28 February

• Mythic Warrior Is Captive in Global Art Conflict
  New York Times/International Herald Tribune
  Cambodia has asked the United States government for help in recovering a thousand-year-old statue of a mythic warrior that sits in limbo at Sotheby’s in New York and that some experts believe was looted amid the convulsions of the Vietnam War and the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

27 February

• Museums love teenagers, but only if they are in uniform
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  What do you have to do to get thrown out of a museum? Smear sticky fingers on the Persian tapestries? Scream so loud that other visitors can't thumb quietly through the browning albums of dried Azolla caroliniana? Do a cartwheel in front of a Caravaggio? Last week, two girls were asked to leave Salford Museum and Art Gallery. They were thrown out for being 13.

25 February

• Ashmolean Museum heads campaign to save Manet painting
  BBC, United Kingdom
  The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has launched a campaign to buy a painting by the French Impressionist Edouard Manet and stop it leaving the UK.

24 February

• Poland wants Auschwitz barracks back from U.S.
  San Francisco Chronicle, United States
  Polish and U.S. officials are engaged in intense talks to determine the fate of a sensitive object: barracks that once housed doomed prisoners at the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp and is now on display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

• Rajasthan museum seeks maharaja's plane crash wreckage
  BBC, United Kingdom
  A museum in India's Rajasthan state has asked Jodhpur Central Jail to hand over the wreckage of an aircraft that crashed in 1952, killing Maharaja Hanwant Singh and his mistress.

• Beijing invests heavily on relics protection
  China.org.cn
  Beijing will make the largest ever investment on cultural relics restoration and renovation this year, a local cultural heritage official said Thursday.

23 February

• Who can protect Bosnia-Hercegovina's cultural heritage?
  BBC, United Kingdom
  Some of the most important museums and cultural institutions in Bosnia-Hercegovina face imminent closure due to political wrangling over which government department should finance them.

• Prado’s copy of the Mona Lisa gives up more of her secrets
  The Art Newspaper
  The work is now fully restored and on view in Spain, and gives fresh insight into the most famous painting in the world.

22 February

• Le Mont-Saint-Michel remis à flot
  France BTP
  Le syndicat mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel a lancé sur plusieurs années des travaux hydrauliques de grande envergure pour redonner à ce monument remarquable classé au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco son caractère maritime.

21 February

• Archaeologists bringing Jerusalem's ancient Roman city back to life
  Haaretz, Israel
  Excavations of the Roman city Aelia Capitolina, built on the ruins of Second Temple-period Jerusalem, have unearthed a few surprises.

• Archaeologists begin restoring ancient boat near pyramids
  Daily News Egypt
  Archaeologists on Monday began restoration on a 4,500-year-old wooden boat found next to the pyramids, one of Egypt's main tourist attractions.

20 February

• Efforts under way to restore Babylon's glory
  Al Jazeera
  After decades of war and neglect, efforts launched to restore glory of ancient Iraqi site.

• Precious past: why the ancient assets of Greece and Egypt must be saved
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  While Greece and Egypt are destabilised by the eurozone debt crisis and revolution, we must do more to protect their vast store of the world's antiquities.

• UNESCO to support Sri Ksetra project
  Myanmar Times
  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation plans to launch its first cultural project in Myanmar in 10 years, a senior official said last week. The capacity-building project aims to develop knowledge of preservation techniques and management of government staff at the Pyu city of Sri Ksetra in Bago Region.

19 February

• New Museums to Shine a Spotlight on Civil Rights Era
  New York Times/International Herald Tribune
  Drive through any state in the Deep South and you will find a monument or a museum dedicated to civil rights.

18 February

• A symbol of preservation
  China Daily
  The leveling of an old-style house in Beijing that was the dwelling of a prominent couple of architects and preservationists has provoked a public outcry.

17 February

• Thieves loot Greece's Ancient Olympia museum
  BBC, United Kingdom
  Armed robbers have stolen dozens of artefacts from a Greek museum dedicated to the history of the early Olympics.

15 February

• Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has archaeological pieces stolen
  Montreal Gazette, Canada
  Two archaeological pieces worth hundreds of thousands of dollars have been stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

• Picasso's Guernica in a car showroom
  BBC, United Kingdom
  Pablo Picasso's Guernica is one of the world's most celebrated works of art. The last time it was seen in the UK, it was not in an art gallery - but in an extraordinary exhibition in a car showroom in Manchester.

• Hindu images razed in Maldives museum
  Times of India
  The Maldives' national museum reopened on Tuesday without some of its most valuable exhibits a week after a mob of suspected religious extremists smashed images from the pre-Islamic era of this Indian Ocean archipelago.

14 February

• Museum Of Broken Relationships: On Valentine's Day, Visits To Croatian Museum Almost Double
  Huffington Post, United States
  What becomes of a garden gnome hurled in fury at a car during a stormy breakup? Or a teddy bear that was once a Valentine's Day present? A wedding dress from a marriage gone awry? An ax that smashed through household furniture?All are on display at the Museum of Broken Relationships in the Croatian capital, each with written testimonies telling tales of passion, romance and heartbreak.

13 February

• Workers Protest Finland's Museum Cuts Even as the Glamorous Helsinki Guggenheim Project Pushes Ahead
  ARTINFO
  The government of Helsinki may be pondering a big play for international arts credibility with its very own Guggenheim, but this stands in sharp contrast to the local scene, where the arts face disheartening austerity.

• Shaanxi to build China's first archaeological museum
  People's Daily Online, China
  Shaanxi province in northwest China will build the country's first archaeological museum, according to information from the recent Conference of Heads of Shaanxi's Cultural Relics Bureaus.

• Ofili’s works restored
  News Day, Zimbabwe
  The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in Bulawayo, in partnership with the Tate Britain, an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate Gallery Network in Britain, recently collaborated to restore the works of internationally-renowned artist, Chris Ofili.

12 February

• Archaeologists strike gold in quest to find Queen of Sheba's wealth
  Guardian, United Kingdom
  A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba derived her fabled treasures.

11 February

• Qatar’s imaging project in progress
  Gulf Times, Qatar
  Work is progressing on the Qatar unified imaging project (QUIP), a path-breaking initiative spearheaded by a team at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, to advance knowledge of the country’s history, traditions and culture.

6 February

• Punjab archaeology sites to be on Google Maps
  Dawn.com, Pakistan
  The Punjab government and the search engine giant Google have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote archaeological sites of the province using Google Maps, DawnNews reported.

• Tomb of St Philip discovered in Eastern Turkey
  ANSA, Italy
  For the last 2,000 years pilgrims have travelled to the Turkish World Heritage Site of Hierapolis, now called Pamukkale, where it is believed that Saint Philip is buried.

• Heritage administration to examine ways to protect cultural properties
  The Korea Herald
  Commemorating the fourth anniversary of the Namdaemun gate arson, the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea this week is holding two events examining better ways to protect cultural properties from natural and man-made disasters.

5 February

• Wedgwood Museum closure condemned by Unesco
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  Museum listed as one of UK's top 20 cultural assets due to be sold off to pay £134m pension deficit after high court ruling

• Piltdown Man: British archaeology's greatest hoax
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  When the find was revealed to be a 'cheap fraud', several eminent men – including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – were put in the frame. Now scientists aim to put an end to the mystery once and for all

• Countless Treasures Found in the Excavations for the Subway in Thessaloniki
  Greek Reporter, Greece
  Macedonians discovered a valuable treasure hid in the bowels of the earth, thanks to the methodical excavations undertaken in the construction of the Thessaloniki metro.

4 February

• Italy and Libya move to re-establish old friendship
  BBC, United Kingdom
  The events of the Arab Spring disrupted Italy's centuries-old relationship with Libya, its neighbour across the Mediterranean, but - now the dust has settled - both sides are keen to restore a spirit of co-operation.

• Keeping heritage above the race for tourist dollars
  Bangkok Post, Thailand
  Once tourism becomes an industry and a commercial activity, profit becomes the driving factor in deciding which activity or cultural product, or type of performing arts, appeals most to consumers and the market. In this way, cultural treasures are transformed into commodities.

3 February

• Museo Pambata to tap children for climate change campaign
  The Philippine Star
  As global warming continues to threaten mankind, it’s time to call in the “little soldiers” to help save Mother Nature, an official of the Museo Pambata said yesterday.

• Plans to save Fiji's culture
  Fiji Times
  MOVES are being made to gather the best cultural practices of minority groups in Fiji in order to ensure their preservation.

• Canadians support museum
  Winnipeg Free Press, Canada
  It will probably be the end of March and the start of the new fiscal year before Canadians learn if the Harper government will do the right thing and increase its financial support for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

• Restoration drama
  Financial Times, United Kingdom
  A fight to save one of Hong Kong’s last Chinese Renaissance style mansions is propelling a new heritage movement

• In Beijing’s Building Frenzy, Even an ‘Immovable Cultural Relic’ Is Not Safe
  New York Times, United States
  Even in its prime, the house at 24 Beizongbu Hutong was no architectural jewel, just one of countless brick-and-timber courtyard homes that clogged the labyrinthine heart of this ancient imperial capital.

• Behind the grand facades of Chile’s capital
  Santiago Times, Chile
  Santiago’s city center may appear to be dominated by ubiquitous chain stores and Cafés con piernas, however, when contemplating the history behind these buildings they often tell a more compelling story.

2 February

• Kenya: First Underwater Museum
  All Africa
  Just before the Portuguese surrendered to the Arabs in 1697, there was an intense battle for control of Fort Jesus. In the process, a Portuguese warship that had been deployed near the fort was sunk. Christened Santo Antonio, the ship still lies on the sea bed near the fort, piling on rust by the kilo.

1 February

• Earliest copy of Mona Lisa found in Prado
  The Art Newspaper
  A copy of the Mona Lisa has been discovered in the Prado which was painted in Leonardo’s studio—created side by side with the original that now hangs in the Louvre. This sensational find will transform our understanding of the world’s most famous picture.

• Treasure from sunken galleon must be returned to Spain, judge says
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  US court says $500m of gold and silver coins recovered by US treasure-hunters from Atlantic in 2007 belongs to Spain

• Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage establishes state-of-the-art facilities for the protection of art and heritage
  Emirates News Agency (WAM), United Arab Emirates
  As part of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH)'s mission to safeguard, manage, and enhance national heritage, ADACH has constructed a multipurpose art storage facilities on the ground floor of the National Archive Building in Abu Dhabi.

updated on: 1 March, 2012