As Smithsonian officials celebrated the deaccessioning of works held by its African Art museum, they ignored another 21 Benin sculptures in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History. - Washington Post
Hulagu, who led the notorious sack of Baghdad in 1258, conquered Damascus and Persia, and founded the Ilkhanid Empire, built himself a fabled summer palace in what's now Çaldıran in eastern Turkey. While archaeologists stress that there's no solid confirmation, they think they may have located the site. - Live Science
"Incheon Airport is considering building a 300-square-meter exhibition space within the airport, after a recent study found that plans to establish a satellite museum of one of Europe's top-tier museums, such as the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre, were unfeasible." - The Korea Herald
The Los Angeles gallery scene is seeing an influx of established New York art galleries moving into town as of late — 11 so far are here or coming soon. - Los Angeles Times
For a year, Mr. Safdie was the public face of a building project over the rail corridor in the middle of Toronto’s downtown. This was a hotly controversial project, since it would construct private buildings in the same airspace where local politicians had promised an eight-hectare Rail Deck Park. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)
Jean-François Charnier and Noëmi Daucé are suspected of ignoring warnings about the questionable provenance of at least two allegedly stolen Egyptian antiquities worth millions, and urging the Louvre Abu Dhabi to acquire them. - Artnet
Hirst attached NFTs to 10,000 of those works and sold them for $2,000 each; a buyer could keep the NFT or get the real-life painting but not both. 5,820 buyers are hanging onto their NFTs, so Hirst is burning the canvases. The title of this endeavor: "The Currency." - The Guardian
"Last month, ... a British tourist was sentenced to 15 years in an Iraqi prison for taking a dozen pottery shards from an unguarded archaeology site. Now, the man's conviction has been overturned and he is set to be released from confinement." - Artnet
Following the lead of the British group Just Stop Oil, two young protesters from the organization Ultima Generazione (Final Generation) glued their hands to the glass covering protecting Botticelli's Primavera at the Uffizi in Florence as a third held a banner saying "Ultima Generazione No Gas No Carbone." - The Guardian
"Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem say they have made numerous discoveries, including an ornate first-century villa with its own ritual bath, after a project began to increase access for disabled people to Jerusalem’s Western Wall." - AP
The Olympics are hard on cities. But 10 years on, says Rowan Moore, London's site "has achieved at least two things usually thought difficult: the creation of a thriving new urban district, and the making of a large new park to which people actually come." - The Observer (UK)
Sure, it's popular on TikTok - but "because this is a relatively new explosion in the craft scene, we don't know the implications it might have on human health longer term or the environment longer term." Oh. - BBC
"The gallery of curiosities alone was well worth the price of admission on a Friday or Saturday night. Human fetuses in jars, a preserved severed arm, Fiji mermaids ... The main attraction of the tour was a dead clown displayed in a transparent coffin." - Los Angeles Times
