NewsMuseums & Heritage
Smithsonian downsizes $2bn expansion of its south campus in Washington
The institution unveils planned changes to its historic Castle and Arts and Industries Building
NewsConservation & Preservation
Volunteers plan to return ‘Albert Hall of the North’ to its glory days
After years of neglect, ornate Victorian auditorium in northern seaside town of Morecambe is being saved
NewsConservation & Preservation
New hope that Istanbul orphanage—Europe's largest timber building—can be saved from ruin
After decades of neglect, a fundraising drive could restore Prinkipo Orphanage as an environmental research centre
NewsJoan Miró
Miró Labyrinth meanders towards restoration at south of France's Maeght Foundation
Conservation project tackles damage to Joan Miró's terraced maze of sculptures and ceramics in grounds of Modern art museum
NewsRestoration
The potato head of Palencia: defaced Spanish statue latest victim of botched restoration
Conservation professionals have questioned why Spain's heritage is continually handed over to those with no formal training
NewsHeritage
Unexploded bombs: the major hitch in this German castle's restoration
Gardens of the Babelsberg Palace in Potsdam must be probed for undetonated explosives before further renovations can take place
NewsRussia
US and Russia 'leave aside the politics' to restore Raphael frescoes
A grant of over $100,000 has been given from the US to St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum for the maintenance of three 16th-century school of Raphael works
NewsJohannes Vermeer
Blockbuster Vermeer exhibition—including restored 'hidden Cupid' painting—announced at Dresden's Semperbau
The show promises to be “one of the most spectacular” in the newly renovated museum's history
NewsMuseums & Heritage
An invitation to sponsor a tile: keeping a roof over Jane Austen’s village home
Donations have poured in from all over the globe since the museum appealed for aid
NewsHeritage
Medieval Carlisle building gets new lease of life after perilous engineering project
The Grade I listed Fratry is now connected to the Carlisle cathedral via a new light-flooded sandstone cafe
ReviewBooks
Image and impotency: book reveals the palaces and pictures of some particularly hapless Habsburgs
The Mexican Emperor Maximilian, Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduke Franz Ferdinand all came to sad ends, but amassed vast estates and works of art
NewsBeirut
Unesco, Icom and Louvre rally to help Beirut as museums tackle extensive explosion damage
A coalition of international museums and heritage organisations are working to provide expertise to Lebanese institutions
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Saving Notre Dame's 'voice': mammoth restoration begins on cathedral's fire-damaged organ
Beginning today, the piece by piece removal and cleaning of the instrument is the latest stage of the building's reconstruction
AnalysisCathedral of Notre Dame
Where we are now with the restoration of Notre Dame after the rejection of modern architectural gestures
An insider report from the site on the latest discoveries and re-building techniques
NewsPennsylvania Impressionism
Campaign seeks to restore the birthplace of Pennsylvania Impressionism
The foundation aims to raise $35m to acquire, restore and repurpose sites related to New Hope School of artists
NewsRestoration
Furniture restorer disfigures Murillo’s 17th-century Virgin Mary—and charges owner €1,200
Spain’s art conservation community say the country needs to better regulate the industry
NewsMosul
Unesco's plan to ‘revive spirit’ of devastated Mosul gets under way
Initiative involves local communities in rebuilding their historic landmarks and neighbourhoods
NewsConservation & Preservation
Gainsborough's newly restored Blue Boy awaits the end of lockdown
Closed by coronavirus, Huntington Library posts online video reflecting on 18-month conservation treatment of dazzling portrait
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Shutdown tests mettle of UK's last major bell foundry
Taylor’s in Loughborough faces uphill struggle in fundraising drive to restore decaying buildings and create new museum
NewsWilliam Shakespeare
The best may be yet to come for Shakespeare monument in Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's £30,000 appeal aims to restore ambitious sculpture of the Bard in grounds of his former home
Newscoronavirus
Virus outbreak delays restoration of Turkey’s Grand Bazaar
The price of gold has also spiked amid scarcity of the precious metal due to the closure of the World Heritage listed market
NewsRestoration
Glasgow School of Art will be back as a 'working art school' but restoration is mired in delays
Almost two years after fire ravaged the Mackintosh building, debate intensifies over future plans for the site
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Germany offers help in restoring Notre Dame's stained-glass windows
German cathedral glass workshops have the expertise and experience necessary to undertake the restoration
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Notre Dame reconstruction halted because of stringent coronavirus measures
Plans to remove the scaffolding around the fire-damaged cathedral have been put on hold
NewsRestoration
Light relief: could new lighting technology avert the need for restoration?
Precision illumination can draw out a work’s fine details without physical intervention, but some doubt it will ever replace traditional conservation
ReviewBook Shorts
Beautiful book captures the colourful restorations of Georgian homes in London
The story of a collection of 18th-century houses in the East End that have been carefully saved after years of neglect
NewsConservation
How medical experts helped curators discover the hidden secrets of a Senufo helmet mask
Spectral CT scans enabled the Dallas Museum of Art to identify unknown elements in the West African piece
NewsYemen
Museum restoration offers rare glimmer of hope in war-torn Yemen
Yemeni authorities and World Monuments Fund team up to repair ruined National Museum in Taiz
NewsRestoration
Ghent Altarpiece: latest phase of restoration unmasks the humanised face of the Lamb of God
Second stage of open-access restoration of Van Eyck brothers’ masterpiece strips away 16th-century overpainting to reveal an abundance of fine details
NewsConservation & Preservation
Science illuminates art in Detroit’s celebration of Bruegel’s The Wedding Dance
Conservators discover that the 1566 painting was once bluer and revisit the exposure of the notorious codpieces
NewsRestoration
Fresh meat: painting restoration reveals that hunk of beef thought to be cooked was actually raw
The 17th-century work features in a newly opened exhibition on art and food at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge
NewsConservation & Preservation
Derelict iron flaxmill is brought back to life in Shrewsbury
Building was considered an audacious architectural experiment when it was built in 1797
NewsConservation & Preservation
Castle opening crowns £150m revival of Bishop Auckland
Millionaire Jonathan Ruffer’s ambitious regeneration of a small former mining town in northern England reveals 1,000 years of history and art
NewsConservation & Preservation
Renaissance woman Plautilla Nelli's Last Supper unveiled after restoration in Florence
Seven-metre painting offers "canvas proof" that self-taught nun ran an all-female workshop in her convent 450 years ago
ReviewBook Shorts
History of Dubrovnik before, during and after Yugoslav Wars is recorded in photo book
Contrast of city's devastated buildings and monuments and some of their remarkable restorations is heartening
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
It's official: French tycoons finalise €300m donations for fire-ravaged Notre Dame
Foundation secures funds from Bernard Arnault and François Pinault towards the reconstruction of the cathedral
NewsRestoration
King of bling’s magnificent home—destroyed by Allied bombing—is recreated in Dresden
Splendid royal state apartments of Augustus the Strong are opening to visitors again after a lavish reconstruction
NewsBrazil
Rio de Janeiro’s Unesco-listed slave wharf receives nearly $2m for renovation
Meanwhile, a forthcoming museum dedicated to the history of the site has faced severe delays
NewsConservation
Josef Albers's Manhattan returns to its rightful place in the MetLife building
The colossal mural, recently recreated, has returned to its home near Grand Central Station
NewsPalmyra
'The most beautiful female bust' brought back to life with vivid colour
Ancient Palmyra’s painted lady is digitally reconstructed from traces of pigments for new exhibition at Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
NewsRestoration
Restorers discover shield fragment is 1,700 years old, making it the oldest German panel painting
Researchers at the Landesmuseum in Halle found fragments of paint on the ancient wooden object
NewsRestoration
Monumental Veronese painting—once cut into 32 pieces by Austrian soldiers—to undergo fourth restoration
Work on the battle-scarred 39 sq. m Papal feast scene, housed in a monastery in Vicenza, should be completed by early 2021
NewsHeritage
Artists demand rethink in rebuilding of Potsdam church where Hitler cemented power
Open letter describes the Garrison Church, damaged in the Second World War, as the symbol of an “unholy alliance” between church, military, and state
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Construction on Notre Dame pushed back to 19 August as steps taken to decontaminate site from lead
Construction had been expected to start a week earlier, but new safety measures for the protection of workers are still being tested
NewsAncient Egypt
Golden touch up: King Tutankhamun's coffin undergoes first ever restoration at new Grand Egyptian Museum
Famous Ancient Egyptian artefact transferred from Luxor tomb to Cairo for delicate conservation work ahead of museum opening
NewsRestoration
Delicate seven-year restoration of altarpiece finally completed at London's National Gallery
The 16th-century work The Virgin and Child with Saints is now back on show in the museum
NewsConservation & Preservation
Moscow Kremlin Museums say ‘bravo!’ to restorers
State regalia, Russian icons and decorative pistols go on show in exhibition celebrating the hidden craft of conservation
NewsRestoration
A rich tapestry of English life unfurls in Oxford with restoration of 400-year-old woven maps
Three huge silk and wool works depicting England’s Midland counties have been painstakingly preserved by the Bodleian Library and the National Trust
AnalysisArchitecture
Notre Dame is unstable: a strong wind could make the walls collapse, independent report says
The current approach to its restoration fails to take account of the interconnected structural “engineering” of Gothic architecture
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Britain’s historic house owners pledge ancient trees for Notre Dame rebuilding
The cathedral’s roof, wholly destroyed in the fire, was built of some 1300 great trees
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Nearly €1bn raised for Notre-Dame over two days
Several charitable and crowdfunding campaigns launched since the fire
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Battered London tomb of the great French tightrope walker Blondin restored
The 19th-century daredevil is most famous for crossing Niagara Falls 17 times—once with a stove on which he cooked an omelette
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Notre Dame benefits from the battle of the billionaires
Competitive philanthropy can help save France’s flagship cathedral
NewsMuseums & Heritage
New £20m Windermere Jetty Museum launches restored steamboats on the lake
Historic vessels set sail again from wet dock at the heart of the Lake District boating museum
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Greenwich's Painted Hall reopens with day beds for visitors to admire 'England's Sistine Chapel'
Two-year restoration of James Thornhill's dizzying Baroque interior was the largest open-access conservation project in Europe
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Discoveries under the floorboards of Van Gogh’s bedroom in Brixton
Mysterious papers were found during the restoration of the south London house in Hackford Road where the Dutchman lodged
NewsOpenings
Lost features of John Soane’s dream country home Pitzhanger Manor restored
Architects, conservation experts and paint archaeologists have collaborated on £12m project to reopen west London house
NewsRenaissance
Restored Raphael cartoon gets new display at Milan’s Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The full-scale preparatory drawing for the Vatican’s School of Athens fresco is going back on view after a four-year restoration
AnalysisRembrandt
Trimmed, splashed and slashed: the anatomy of Rembrandt's The Night Watch
As the Rijksmuseum prepares to restore the Dutch master’s most-celebrated painting in full view of the public, we look at its chequered conservation history
NewsRestoration
New York Botanical Garden’s landmark glass conservatory to close for renovation
$17.7m effort includes refurbishment of “palm dome” and two galleries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Dresden ballroom returns to gilded glory as part of €300m palace reconstruction
Residential Palace complex, a casualty of Allied bombing in the Second World War, is due to be rebuilt by 2021
NewsRestoration
Theaster Gates hits the floor at Park Avenue Armory
The Chicago artist will mill a portion of the period wood for the $4m project to replace the historic New York building's floor
NewsHeritage
How pioneering climate-change science dated one of Britain's oldest houses
Landmark Trust's restoration finds that oak timber used to build Welsh house was felled in the winters of 1418-19 and 1420-21
NewsProtest
Arc de Triomphe to reopen after vandalism by 'Yellow Vest' protestors in Paris
But the bust of Napoleon is still being restored
NewsRestoration
Queen Victoria and Fath-Ali Shah portraits, torn apart in 2011 British Embassy attack, to go back on show in Tehran
Restored paintings will form part of a new display of 66 works, including several Persian pieces bought by the UK's Government Art Collection after the attack
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Rain threatens recovery effort at Brazil’s National Museum
Meanwhile, the museum partners with a Chinese tech firm to digitise its catalogued collection
NewsConservation & Preservation
Restored, but demoted: stained-glass window not by Tiffany, expert says
River of Life depiction has been newly reattributed to J & R Lamb Studios
InterviewArt market
Notorious forger Wolfgang Beltracchi on ethics, the art market and how to make a great fake
Now painting under his own name, Beltracchi's works are part of a selling exhibition currently touring Europe
NewsContemporary art
Rachel Whiteread’s breakthrough work Ghost gets complex conservation treatment
Structural engineers and architects were among those restoring the room-sized cast at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC
NewsRenaissance
Isenheim Altarpiece restoration finally back on track after public outcry
More than 30 conservators will treat paintings and sculptures, seven years after French culture ministry halted reckless cleaning of two panels
NewsOpenings
Budapest museum's Romanesque Hall returned to former glory
The Szepmuveszeti Muzeum restoration ushers in a series of ambitious art projects in Hungarian capital
NewsBrazil
‘Brazil’s Donald Trump’ Jair Bolsonaro may thwart efforts to rebuild Rio museum destroyed in fire
New far-right president wants to remove the country’s ministry of culture
NewsConservation & Preservation
Warship figureheads restored ahead of opening for new Plymouth arts complex
Royal Navy statues are being made shipshape and ready for installation at The Box, opening in 2020
NewsRestoration
Urgent revamp of William Morris’s country home to go ahead after £4.3m grant
UK National Lottery award will also fund a new education centre at the Victorian designer’s 16th-century Kelmscott Manor
NewsConservation & Preservation
Spain tells vandal to Kiss off after Santiago de Compostela statue defaced
Authorities vow to find rock fan who damaged Medieval statue
NewsConservation & Preservation
Turin’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud—almost entirely destroyed by fire—reopens after €30m restoration
State-of-the-art conservation project that took 21 years brings masterpiece of Baroque architecture back to its former glory
NewsConservation & Preservation
German court orders restorer to pay dealer €26,000 after eight-year dispute
Munich-based dealer claimed paintings he sent for cleaning had been ruined
NewsOpenings
Edinburgh's Collective to unveil new art space in old City Observatory this autumn
Opening of restored 19th-century complex on Calton Hill has been delayed by dry rot
NewsConservation & Preservation
Berlin restores murals neglected for more than a century
Only ten of the wall paintings—created in housing complexes to offer visual relief from the booming German capital—remain
NewsDisasters & destruction
Syrian museums seek Russian expertise to restore destroyed Palmyra sculptures
Ancient city occupied by Islamic State was retaken by Syrian army with Russian support in 2017
NewsTaj Mahal
Demolish or restore discoloured Taj Mahal, India's Supreme Court tells government
White marble monument, a Unesco World Heritage site, is turning yellow due to pollution and insect dung
NewsRestoration
The Glasgow School of Art dilemma: rebuild, leave in ruins or design a whole new school?
Alumni at odds over how to move forward after fire gutted Mackintosh’s masterpiece
NewsRestoration
There be dragons (again) after £5m Great Pagoda renovation at Kew Gardens
Eighty of the gaudy monsters have been recreated for the 18th-century tower at London's royal botanic gardens
NewsConservation & Preservation
Huge disparity in estimates to repair vandalised Ivan the Terrible painting
Ilya Repin’s masterpiece in Moscow’s Tretyakov gallery was struck with a metal pole in May
NewsConservation & Preservation
Russia opens new exhibition centre dedicated to icons
The Grabar Art Conservation Center has launched the Ovchinnikov Ikonoteka space, which is named in honour of renowned restorer
NewsConservation & Preservation
Pharmaceutical company pledges to restore beauty at the Hermitage
The Hungarian firm Gedeon Richter to fund three-year project to restore works from the Russian museum that relate to the concept of female beauty
NewsConservation & Preservation
World Monuments Fund gives $1m for post-quake restoration of Mexican archaeological site
Monte Albán, the ancient capital of the Zapotec people, was damaged by earthquakes in 2017
NewsDisasters & destruction
Can the Glasgow School of Art be saved after second fire?
Anger as focus turns to cause of blaze that ripped through Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece
NewsConservation & Preservation
Canada’s 1950s Venice Biennale pavilion gets a facelift
The upgrade to the Modernist building and its surrounding landscape has resulted in a new visitor route planned for the Giardini
NewsConservation & Preservation
Reconstruction of quake-damaged church to be led by former head of Vatican Museums
Antonio Paolucci to oversee restoration of Italy's Basilica of St Benedict
NewsConservation & Preservation
Urgent action needed to save Russia’s wooden architecture
Grassroots activists are leading a campaign to preserve the country’s unique, but sadly neglected, built heritage
NewsConservation & Preservation
Murillo's dramatic altarpiece back on display in Liverpool after a major clean-up
The restored Virgin and Child in Glory at the Walker Art Gallery reveals Spanish master's "exquisite skills"
NewsConservation & Preservation
Lasers and water gel used to restore Medieval altarpiece from Rimini
The treatment of Frankfurt’s Liebieghaus museum's fragile alabaster ensemble could pave the way for future loans
NewsConservation & Preservation
Portrait believed to be Mary, Queen of Scots discovered beneath 16th-century painting
Figure found using X-ray photography during research by National Galleries of Scotland and the Courtauld
NewsRestoration
Germany stumps up €400m for Prussian palaces and parks
Funding will benefit Potsdam’s Sanssouci and Berlin’s Charlottenburg palaces
NewsConservation & Preservation
Royal Academy of Arts lifts Burlington Gardens veil with end of revamp in sight
Façade restoration nears completion in project to unite the RA campus in time for 250th anniversary in 2018
News
How departing director Perdita Hunt saved the Watts Gallery from near death
She led a seven-year, £10m project to restore the buildings, rehang the galleries and conserve the collection
NewsRestoration
Fundraising campaign launched to transform Sidney Nolan’s UK home into an art centre
His trust needs £2.3m to create artists’ studios and a permanent gallery devoted to the 20th-century Australian painter