Anticipated Art Museum Openings and Expansions of 2026.

From the launch of Refik Anadol’s DATALAND to the re-opening of Mexico City’s Museo Dolores Olmedo, there’s a lot to look forward to.

Museums, regardless of their size, face a minefield of challenges, from how best to preserve, share and display artworks to how to attract new audiences while cultivating loyalty among visitors who might eventually become patrons

https://observer.com/list/the-most-anticipated-art-museum-openings-and-expansions-of-2026/ #globalmuseum #museums

When Cultural Exchange Is Forced to Tiptoe Around Authoritarian Red Lines .

In September 2025, Prague welcomed an exhibition of 100 treasures from Taiwan’s National Palace Museum — an extraordinary cultural moment by any measure.​​ Yet visitors quickly spotted something strange: not a single panel or caption mentioned “Taiwan.”

For a show meant to celebrate shared cultural heritage, it was an oddly hollow silence.

https://taiwaninsight.org/2025/12/15/when-cultural-exchange-is-forced-to-tiptoe-around-authoritarian-red-lines/ #globalmuseum #Taiwan #museums #China

Louvre under pressure after disastrous year.

World’s largest museum faces calls to ditch €1.15bn revamp as series of crises exposes more basic challenges

Macron’s Nouvelle Renaissance project for the Louvre should have defined his cultural legacy.
Instead, the series of crises has exposed more basic challenges facing the museum, leaving unions and opposition politicians calling for a sharper focus on practical fixes.

https://archive.ph/VHBAx #globalmuseum #museums

The Christmas night that Mexico’s National Anthropology Museum was robbed of its treasures.

The robbery at Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology remains one of the most astonishing events in art history. This is what happened.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexico-city-plus/the-heist-of-the-century-the-night-mexicos-national-anthropology-museum-was-stripped-of-its-treasures/ #globalmuseum #museums

Happy Boxing Day!
On this day we bring out this gem from a Museum accounts book, which shows that an employee was fined for being particularly merry on both 25 and 26 December, 1704.
A fine of one shilling was issued for, yes, you read that right, "coming home dead drunk both nights and neglect of lighting candle". 🍻
We hope you're having a fantastic break, and remembered to light the candles!
@ashmoleanmuseum #globalmuseum #museums

The new museum definition, adopted by ICOM in 2022, is a valuable professional tool used by museum workers, policymakers and communities. The Museum Definition Handbook addresses and analyses each term that appears within the definition, building on reflections surrounding their meanings and significances that emerged during the participatory ICOM Define process.
Get you free copy
👇

https://icom.jlbinfo.info/bibliotheque/jlbWeb?html=Bur&base=documentation&ref=51601&file=7742.pdf&path=ICOM_Definition_handbook_2025_EN.pdf #globalmuseum #museums

Outcomes of the 27th ICOM General Conference: ICOM Sets Strategic Direction for the Museum Sector.

The 27th General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), held on 11-17 November, in Dubai, UAE, under the theme “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities,” brought a series of major outcomes that will guide ICOM’s work in the coming years.

https://icom.museum/en/news/outcomes-of-the-27th-icom-general-conference-icom-sets-strategic-direction-for-the-museum-sector/ #globalmuseum #museums #ICOM

Ghent museum refuses return of Nazi-looted painting.

A 17th‑century portrait in Ghent is at the center of a restitution dispute after research confirmed it was looted from Jewish art dealer Samuel Hartveld during the Nazi occupation. His heirs say they were never compensated, while Belgium still lacks a clear framework for returning Nazi‑stolen art. The case highlights growing pressure on the country to investigate its museum collections
https://www.dw.com/en/ghent-museum-refuses-return-of-nazi-looted-painting/video-75276542 #globalmuseum #museums #art

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art returns three sculptures to Cambodia.

Researchers at the museum concluded that the three artefacts were removed from Cambodia during the civil war of the 1960s and 70s

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/12/23/smithsonians-national-museum-of-asian-art-returns-three-sculptures-to-cambodia #globalmuseum #museums #art #Cambodia

Sounds about right.

#memes #humour #Brittian #Egypt #Museums

Six Louvre masterpieces we're glad weren't stolen in the heist.

Following the dramatic October theft at the world's largest museum, Le Monde in English journalists reflected on our favorite objects housed in the Paris institution.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2025/12/22/six-louvre-masterpieces-we-re-glad-weren-t-stolen-in-the-heist_6748765_30.html #globalmuseum #museums #Louvre

10 New York Museum Shows Worth Slowing Down for Over the Holidays.

After Miami and before the new year, the art world calendar briefly loosens its grip, creating a rare pause that invites unhurried engagement with New York’s most compelling museum exhibitions.

https://observer.com/list/nyc-holiday-museum-shows-monet-lam-asawa-calder/ #globalmuseum #museums #exhibitions #NewYork

Oslo Museums Face the Contradictions in their Collections.

Like institutions globally, Norway's biggest art museums are trying to adapt, sometimes haltingly, to a society whose values are shifting in real time

https://observer.com/2025/12/oslo-museums-face-contradictions-collections-colonialism-diversity/ #globalmuseum #museums

Bust of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa). Culture: Italian. Date: 18th century AD. Medium: Polychromed wood, human hair, glass eyes, and metal; 45 x 45 x 24.5 cm. Collection: Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels (Inv. FB.514). Photo © RMAH. #globalmuseum #museums #religion

Ring Brooch with a Christmas Tale.

Discover a festive treasure from Ireland’s past: a unique medieval silver ring brooch inscribed with the names of the Three Magi, found in Trim, Co. Meath.
Find out more👇

https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Documentation-Discoveries/Artefact/A-Ring-Brooch-with-a-Christmas-tale/ae61a841-aef0-4824-9060-82cb5d9fb215?utm_source=globalmuseum #globalmuseum #museums #Ireland #jewellery

Breaking Barriers: Radical Curatorial Practice
28 January 2026, 1100-1605
Online, Zoom,
With the growth in participatory practice and the drive to tell wider and more inclusive stories with our collections, this event explores how the role of the curator is evolving
https://www.museumsassociation.org/events/breaking-barriers-radical-curatorial-practice/# #globalmuseum #museums #curator #events

Avatar: Forms of Vishnu
Art Gallery of New South Wales
20 June – 5 October 2026
This major exhibition brings together centuries of art and storytelling from South and Southeast Asia celebrating Vishnu, the Hindu deity who preserves order in the universe.
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/avatar/?utm_source=globalmuseum #globalmuseum #museums #IndianArt #exhibitions

Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Hint: it’s not the saiga antelope! While the saiga won’t be taking Rudolph’s job anytime soon, it does have a special nose, which filters out dust during dry summers and warms the air it breathes during cold winters. 👃
American Museum of Natural History
@AMNH # Globalmuseum #museums

This Museum Housed 120,000 Works of Art. Now It’s Empty.

The Pompidou Center is the place to see contemporary art in Paris. Or it was, until curators put its astonishing collection into storage.

https://archive.ph/FEUFg #globalmuseum #museums #art