The museum features the work of a Hungarian taxidermist who created anthropomorphized exhibits. It had 50,000 visitors in 2019, but numbers fell during the pandemic and the owner now plans to sell.
The federally funded museum has been accused of "institutional misconduct" including racism and sexual harassment. A petition claimed some employees call it "the last plantation on the National Mall."
For many small museums across the country, it's been over a year since their doors have been open to visitors, putting them in the same life-or-death situation as much of the rest of the arts sector.
From fish in jars to rare seeds and microbes, hundreds of millions of biological specimens are stored around the U.S., and caretakers are trying to make them accessible for future research.
The Smithsonian cannot build a new museum without federal legislation but both museums have bipartisan support. The law requires costs be covered by a 50/50 split between public and private dollars.
In a survey of more than 750 museum directors, 33% of them said there was either a "significant risk" of closing permanently by next fall or that they didn't know if their institutions would survive.
The museum has tightened its acquisition policies and is working to return potentially looted objects. Early acquisitions reflected a lack of expertise and lack of policy, its chief curator tells NPR.
A new exhibition at the Louvre includes Leonardo's sketches, drawings and 11 paintings. "You can really get into his brain and try to see how he thought," says biographer Serge Bramly.
Staff at the Paris museum went on strike Monday, citing deteriorating conditions for tourists and staff amid record-setting attendance. It's unclear whether the galleries will re-open Wednesday.
The mayor of Cremona, Italy, blocked traffic during five weeks of recording and asked residents to please keep quiet so master musicians could play four instruments — note by note — for posterity.
The government-funded House of Fates, set to open this year, has been criticized by Holocaust survivors, scholars and others for presenting a distorted view of Hungary's role during the Holocaust.
The deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, represents an ambitious expansion for the Baltimore-based university — and the end of a turbulent era for the journalism museum.
"There's no getting around it," Linda St. Thomas, chief spokeswoman for the Smithsonian. About two-thirds of the institution's staff are federal employees and will be furloughed effective Jan. 2.
Across the U.S., community groups, hospitals and government agencies are stepping up to support the estimated 42 million stressed and strained family caregivers, who are often untrained and unpaid.
The East End of London was once synonymous with Dickensian squalor. Now it's prime real estate. A tiny museum in the back streets shows schoolchildren what life was like in the past.
An online petition demanding the museum remove the works garnered more than 600,000 signatures since it was posted five days ago, contending that three of them depict animal cruelty.
Yalla! Eat walking tours take people into the Arab-American community, where they can talk with business owners about their personal stories and the products they sell.
The auction, including two Rockwell paintings, would fund the Berkshire Museum's renovation and increase its endowment. But two prominent museum organizations say the sale violates fundamental ethics.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art can only display a fraction of its collection at any given time. Now, you can text a word or emoji and the museum will send back a corresponding work of art.
People often become obsessed with collecting certain types of objects and then, before you know it, they have the basis for what writer Molly McBride Jacobson calls a "wonderfully specific museum."
As museum curators continue to search for ways to make art accessible to the viewing public — and to engage individual interests — blogger Alva Noë says turning to neuroscience is not the answer.
The museum opened March 23 in Gdansk, where the war began. "This is the museum of a war, but not a military museum," says historian Pawel Machcewicz. The government wants something different.
