The White House announced on Tuesday it will conduct an internal review of certain Smithsonian museums and exhibitions in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence. The move follows President Donald Trump’s earlier accusation that the institution spreads “anti-American ideology,” a charge that has drawn concern from civil rights advocates. In…
Deep in the labyrinth of the American Museum of Natural History, past the giant suspended blue whale and the first floor’s Alaska brown bears, is an unobtrusive locked door. On it, there is a small sign. “Bug Colony.” Behind the door, accessible only to a handful of museum employees, thousands of flesh-eating dermestid beetles toil…
The jewels are delicate, some just millimeters in length, arranged in intricate patterns of circles and lines. Taken from British-occupied India in 1898, the jewels were discovered alongside bone and ash, said to be the remains of Buddha. The collection is perhaps one of the holiest relics in contemporary religion. Now, it is up for…
In its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, the Lung Wah Hotel, a converted, Spanish revival villa, offered a leafy refuge from the bustle of city life, near a cove and surrounded by parks in Hong Kong’s northern New Territories. Winding stairs, flanked by red lanterns, led to a sprawling Chinese-style garden. On summer weekends,…
This article is part of our Museums special section about how artists and institutions are adapting to changing times. “Super/Natural” — an immersive, dome-shape work of art in stained glass by Judith Schaechter — is really best experienced from the inside. Step through its small portal, and in the right light you will be surrounded…
This article is part of our Museums special section about how artists and institutions are adapting to changing times. Surrounded by a group of 10th graders, Alex Asal, a museum educator at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, read aloud from three school lunch menus. She asked the students to raise their hands for which…
Air-raid sirens would ring out. There was an underground bomb shelter that allowed Jews, but only in a section that was covered, absurdly, by a glass roof. Each night, Mr. Lindenblatt would watch a panorama of planes flying overhead and the bombs they were dropping. He could still see it now, as he talked about…
Ten years ago, this was just a big hole in the ground behind a Lowe’s home improvement store in southern New Jersey, an unlikely place to find what might be one of the world’s most important fossil sites. But 66 million years ago, tantalizingly close in time to when the dinosaurs went extinct, a multitude…
It costs about 14 euros, or about $15, per minute to drive a rented Lamborghini on the public roads of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. This feels especially exorbitant in a place where a couple of coins buys a glass of world-class wine. Even more grating, however, is that the experience is actually worth the money….
Senior leadership at the Guggenheim will not be taking pay cuts, according to a museum spokeswoman, Tina Vaz. The cuts are spread over six departments, including advancement, education, publications and archives, but do not affect curators and top executives. Additionally, the museum’s chief curator, Naomi Beckwith, who is organizing two major exhibitions in Europe for…