Ethiopia: The 160-tonne, 27-metre-high obelisk, which was taken from the holy city of Axum to Rome under Mussolini in 1937, is being re-erected on a plateau in the north of Ethiopia following its return in 2005. The $4m project, funded by Unesco and the Italian government, is due to be finished by the middle of this month.
France: The new director of the Musée d'Orsay, Guy Cogeval, is planning to set up an international group of museums with globally important collections of 19th-century art. "Circle 19" will focus on cooperation over loans, exhibitions, scholarships and staff exchanges.
Germany: Police seized 1,000 pieces of pre-Columbian antiquities worth an estimated $100m in a raid on a warehouse in Munich. The treasures, including gemstones, sculptures and masks, are alleged to be missing museum pieces from several Latin American countries and had been brought to Germany by a Costa Rican art collector claiming to be the rightful owner.
Italy: Rome's new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, has said he wishes to rid the city of Richard Meier's glass, marble and steel museum on the site of the Ara Pacis altar of Emperor Augustus. The first modern building to be built in the city's historic centre since the fascist period, the $24m structure opened in 2006 after 10 years in construction.
Italy: Rem Koolhaas has been commissioned to design a 17,500 sq metre contemporary art museum for the Prada Foundation on an industrial site south of Milan. The €25m project is scheduled to open in 2012. In the meantime, Milan has commissioned Daniel Libeskind to design an 18,000 sq metre contemporary art museum as part of the 225,000 sq metre Fiera Milano trade fair development.
Netherlands: The heirs of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich have settled a dispute with Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. In return for giving back five paintings, the city will retain the other works. The paintings left Russia in the 1920s and were acquired from a German collector in the 1950s.
Qatar: Members of the ruling Al-Thani family are believed to have acquired significant works of contemporary art at auctions last year, including Mark Rothko's White Center from David Rockefeller, which fetched a record $73m.
The sale highlights a trend towards high-end works of contemporary art moving from Europe and America to collections in the Gulf region, the ex-Soviet republics and China. At a press conference in Abu Dhabi, the acquisition budget for the Guggenheim museum on Saadiyat Island was described as "potentially unlimited".
Russia: The government has allocated $177m for the restoration of the Pushkin Museum, the country's second-largest museum of western European art. The revamp, which will quadruple the museum's size, will feature two exhibition areas, concert hall, library and underground parking. Norman Foster has been approached to lead the redesign.
US: The Bank of America plans to tour pre-packaged exhibitions drawn from its large art collections to US museums free of charge. Twenty-seven shows have been booked over the next 18 months, with more to come in 2010, including an exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen. Seen in artsjournal.com, the Art Newspaper and Bloomberg
France: The new director of the Musée d'Orsay, Guy Cogeval, is planning to set up an international group of museums with globally important collections of 19th-century art. "Circle 19" will focus on cooperation over loans, exhibitions, scholarships and staff exchanges.
Germany: Police seized 1,000 pieces of pre-Columbian antiquities worth an estimated $100m in a raid on a warehouse in Munich. The treasures, including gemstones, sculptures and masks, are alleged to be missing museum pieces from several Latin American countries and had been brought to Germany by a Costa Rican art collector claiming to be the rightful owner.
Italy: Rome's new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, has said he wishes to rid the city of Richard Meier's glass, marble and steel museum on the site of the Ara Pacis altar of Emperor Augustus. The first modern building to be built in the city's historic centre since the fascist period, the $24m structure opened in 2006 after 10 years in construction.
Italy: Rem Koolhaas has been commissioned to design a 17,500 sq metre contemporary art museum for the Prada Foundation on an industrial site south of Milan. The €25m project is scheduled to open in 2012. In the meantime, Milan has commissioned Daniel Libeskind to design an 18,000 sq metre contemporary art museum as part of the 225,000 sq metre Fiera Milano trade fair development.
Netherlands: The heirs of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich have settled a dispute with Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. In return for giving back five paintings, the city will retain the other works. The paintings left Russia in the 1920s and were acquired from a German collector in the 1950s.
Qatar: Members of the ruling Al-Thani family are believed to have acquired significant works of contemporary art at auctions last year, including Mark Rothko's White Center from David Rockefeller, which fetched a record $73m.
The sale highlights a trend towards high-end works of contemporary art moving from Europe and America to collections in the Gulf region, the ex-Soviet republics and China. At a press conference in Abu Dhabi, the acquisition budget for the Guggenheim museum on Saadiyat Island was described as "potentially unlimited".
Russia: The government has allocated $177m for the restoration of the Pushkin Museum, the country's second-largest museum of western European art. The revamp, which will quadruple the museum's size, will feature two exhibition areas, concert hall, library and underground parking. Norman Foster has been approached to lead the redesign.
US: The Bank of America plans to tour pre-packaged exhibitions drawn from its large art collections to US museums free of charge. Twenty-seven shows have been booked over the next 18 months, with more to come in 2010, including an exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen. Seen in artsjournal.com, the Art Newspaper and Bloomberg
