2008 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

2007 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Exhibition: Oases of tranquillity. The great landscapes gardens of Central Europe (Austria)
From 6 June to 18 November 2008. Liechtenstein Museum
From 6 June 2008 the Liechtenstein Museum is presenting an exhibition about the history, design and creation of the great landscape gardens of Central Europe. Displayed in the former Ladies’ Apartments and the Library at the Liechtenstein summer palace, the scope of the exhibition ranges from early examples such as the Prater in Vienna or the park of the imperial palace at Laxenburg, where parts of the extensive imperial hunting reserves were opened to the public, to the gardens situated on the eastern fringes of the Vienna Woods (Kahlenberg, Leopoldsberg, Gallitzinberg and Predigtstuhl, Neuwaldegg, Hinterbrühl), the estates at Schönau/Triesting, Vösendorf, Bruck/Leitha, Eisenstadt and Göllersdorf, and the great landscape gardens created by the Liechtenstein family in northern Lower Austria and southern Moravia.
Liechtenstein Museum. Exhibitions. Publicated: 23-9-2008

Exhibition: Vincent van Gogh at the Albertina (Austria)
The Albertina will display 170 masterpieces by Dutch expressionist Vincent van Gogh from September 5 to December 8, 2008 in an exhibition entitled Vincent van Gogh: Drawn Pictures. The focus of the exhibition will be the interaction between van Gogh’s drawings and paintings created in his final years in Paris and Arles. Van Gogh was a trailblazer of the Expressionist movement. His distinct brushwork makes his work unmistakable, as shown in instantly recognizable pieces such as Sunflowers. The exhibition at the Albertina will include The Harvest from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam as well as View of Les Vessenots Near Auvers from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
European Cities Tourism. Vienna. Events. Publicated: 23-9-2008

The Schönbrunn Palace and the exhibition "Crown Prince Rudolf - Traces of a life" (Austria)
To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Crown Prince Rudolf on 21 August a special exhibition is being staged at the Imperial Furniture Collection and Schönbrunn Palace in cooperation with the Austrian State Archives. The main venue will be the Imperial Furniture Collection which will present the public and private life of the heir to the imperial throne in its temporary exhibition space as well as individual sections of the permanent exhibition. At Schönbrunn the exhibition will also see the reopening to the public of the former Crown Prince Apartment following years of extensive restoration. Located in the seven rooms of this ground-floor suite which are decorated with the exotic landscape murals of the Bohemian painter Johann Wenzel Bergl, the exhibition will focus on Crown Prince Rudolf's passion for hunting.
Schönbrunn Palace Website. Exhibitions. Publicated: 23-9-2008

Sigiriya gets JICA support (Sri Lanka)
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) formalized plans to initiate a two and a half year technical cooperation project for the development of Culture - Oriented Tourism in Sigiriya (Project COTS). The project COTS is initiated by the Government of Japan to extend assistance to several projects in the vicinity of a new museum construction at Sigiriya, includes installation of display equipment in the museum, infrastructure development and human resource development for tourism operations. The "Project to construct a New Sigiriya museum" is been implemented under the counterpart fund scheme of the Government of Sri Lanka, a scheme which delivers developmental assistance through turning foreign aid into reserves of domestic currency where recipient Governments can use these finances to improve infrastructure facilities. The museum is expected to be opened to the public by mid 2009.
Sri Lanka Tourism. Newsletter Vol. 01 Nº 67. Publicated: 19-9-2008

PDF (1.45 MB) Preservation of the Egyptian Traditional Storytellers’ Instruments and Tools.
The UNESCO Regional Office for Science in the Arab States, within the framework of the "Museum to Museum / Museum Partnership Programme”, has launched in cooperation with the International Storytelling Center (Tennessee) and the International Council of Museums-Committee for Conservation-Wood, Furniture and Lacquer (ICOM-CC-Wood, Furniture and Lacquer), the first phase of a project concerning the preservation of the endangered cultural assets of the traditional Egyptian storyteller's heritage and its instruments and tools, consisting in the evaluation of the existing collections. Several traditional musical instruments used to accompany the traditional storytellers, poets and singers. Those instruments are mostly made of wood. There are several sorts of instruments including string instruments such as Rababa and Smsmiyya, wind instrument such as Salamiyyah, Zummarah, Mizmar, Arghul and Nay and percussion instruments such as Tablah and Tambourine. The aim of the project, having reviewed the existing collections and evaluated the on hand conservation facilities of the museum, is to launch a conservation process for the safeguarding of those cultural assets, instruments and tools.
UNESCO. Cairo Office. Newsletter June 2008. Publicated: 17-9-2008

PDF (1.45 MB) Inauguration of the first stone of the Wadi Halfa Museum (Egypt)
The idea of creating a new Museum in Wadi Halfa emerged during the UNESCO mission to Egyptian and Sudanese Nubia, from Khartoum to Aswan, in 2005, which led to the signature of a Protocol of Cooperation for Heritage protection between Egypt and Sudan. The new museum will be dedicated to Nubian culture and History. It is conceived in close cooperation with the Nubia Museum of Aswan, which it will complement by displaying archaeological artifacts from Sudanese Nubia, which are missing in the Aswan Nubia Museum and the creation of the an interactive Nubian Village for the preservation of the Intangible Heritage. Therefore, the Nubia Museum of Wadi Halfa will be a community-based museum and a regional cultural centre, as well as the starting point for visits of deserts
and sites in the area. To be built in traditional style, it will include on its grounds special buildings dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Nubian intangible heritage (Nubian
language, poetry and songs, music, handicrafts, traditional cuisine, etc.). The Sudanese government has provided a large piece of land, in a particularly spectacular area facing the lake, for the construction of the Museum.
UNESCO. Cairo Office. Newsletter June 2008. Publicated: 17-9-2008

PDF (1.45 MB) Preparation of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Egypt and Sudan’s appeals to UNESCO to Save the Monuments of Nubia:
On 6 April 1959 the Egyptian Government made an official request to UNESCO for an international appeal to be launched to save the monuments of Nubia. On 24 October of the same year the same request was done by the Sudanese Government. This was the first of the great salvage programs that became the dominant feature of archaeology in the second half of the twentieth century, and in many ways it set the pattern for those which followed. Today Lower Nubia can be considered undoubtedly the best-known archeological region in Africa. The Nubia Museum of Aswan will host the Fiftieth Anniversary of these appeals with the organization of the International Conference “Lower Nubia: Revisiting memory of the past, envisaging perspectives for the future”. The Conference will be organized by UNESCO Cairo Office in Cooperation with the Egyptian and Sudanese Authorities in February 2009.
UNESCO. Cairo Office. Newsletter June 2008. Publicated: 17-9-2008

PDF (1.45 MB) The International Campaign for the establishment of the Nubia Museum of Aswan and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo:

• Enhancing the conservation labs at the Nubia Museum of Aswan.
  The conservation labs of the Nubia Museum of Aswan are among the best equipped in Egypt. An expert mission was undertaken in order to assess the state of the machines and prepare, in cooperation with the museum staff, the Supreme Council of Antiquities and UNESCO Cairo Office, a proposal to reinforce the role of the lab as a conservation center serving all Upper Egypt and a training center able to interact on international level.
• Producing promotional material CDs on Philae, Abu Simble, Kalabsha, and the Nubia Campaigns are under preparation.
• Documentation Center in the Nubia Museum of Aswan: follow up on the acquisition of the documents and rare books and preparation phase for their digitalization.

UNESCO. Cairo Office. Newsletter June 2008. Publicated: 17-9-2008

Exhibition: Tutankhamun and the World of the Pharaohs
Völkerkunde Museum Vienna from 9 March to 28 September 2008
National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), will bring an extensive exhibition of more than 140 treasures from the tomb of the celebrated pharaoh Tutankhamun and additional ancient sites to Vienna in 2008, marking the first time the treasures of King Tut have visited Austria.
Völkerkunde Museum Vienna. Exhibitions. Publicated: 23-9-2008

Museum honors Sixto
The Dominican Museum of Man honored Sixto Minier in an exhibition opened on 1 july 2008, Mr Minier traditional musician and spiritual leader of the "Cofradia del Espiritu Santo de los Congos de Villa Mella (Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos of Villa Mella)" , was born on 2 March 1920 and passed away on 29 April 2008, at the age of 88.
During the ceremony the Ministry of Culture launched also a CD on the "Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos of Villa Mella". The Cofradia was named a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral an Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 18 May 2001. The Cofradia is more than 300 years old and in 2006 the government created a plan of action in order to protect it. Mr Minier was groomed to be the leader of the Cofradia from an early age and in 2001 was recognized by the state of New York for helping to preserve African traditions in the DR. After Minier's death Agustin Guzman Minier was named leader of the Cofradia.
UNESCO. Cuba. Culture. Publicated: 29-8-2008

UNESCO assists underwater museum project in Alexandria
UNESCO has established an International Scientific Advisory Committee to help lay the ground for an innovative underwater museum in the Bay of Alexandria, Egypt, where major archaeological remains are to be found, including Cleopatra’s Palace and the fabled Alexandria Lighthouse, or Pharos. The Committee is expected to start preparatory work by November 2008.
UNESCO. Press Release n°2008-76. UNESCOPRESS. Publicated: 04-09-2008

Microsite "Ibero-America, Spain and Museums"
On the occasion of the celebration of the Latin American Year of Museums during 2008, the Ministry of Culture has made available to the citizens the microsite "Ibero-America, Spain and Museums" that includes all the activities and projects of the Ministry within the scope of the museums and co-operation with Latin-America. In this microsite you will find information on past activities and, which is more important, of future activities.
Spain. Culture Ministery. Publicated: 20-8-2008

New online ILAM Workshops: 1. Script writing for exhibitions. 2. Visual Identity for cultural institutions: corporate image. 3. Record and cataloguing of collections: applications and users
By means of this modality of online training, in Spanish, ILAM continues its offer of a diversity of workshops, which covers the main areas of the museum science and its specific topics. The workshops are independent, which allows students to choose among them those of their interest. Upon finishing the selected Workshop online and having met the stipulated requirements, each student will receive a participation certificate.
ILAM Fondation. Workshops. Publicated: 20-8-2008