Let’s be honest: history often gets a bad rap. It’s seen as dusty, sequestered, and something that happened exclusively to people who wore powdered wigs. But in the vibrant coastal state of Goa, a group of college students and their professor, Rohit Phalgaonkar, are proving that history isn’t dead; it’s just scattered in three pieces at the bottom of a temple tank, waiting for a passionate student to fish it out. At the Sant Sohirobanath […]
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Introduction Few artists in modern India embody adoration and controversy like Maqbool Fida Husain, more popularly known as M.F. Husain did and continues to do. Often celebrated as among India’s leading modern artists, unfortunately, Husain spent his final years outside India. This was not because he was exiled by some law or decree, but by a steady barrage of court cases that in most cases edged on harassment. Now, more than a decade after his […]
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The energy industry often operates on the assumption that if a project is big enough, its economic gravitational pull will simply warp the legal landscape to accommodate it. However, the proposed extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant in Western Australia—set to run until 2070—is proving to be a legal gauntlet. Facing challenges from both the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Friends of Australian Rock Art (FoARA), the federal environment minister’s approval is […]
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The Chartha home where Sachin Dev Burman (better known as S D Burman) first heard Bhatiali river songs and folk music of boatmen, may soon be more than a memory. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh has re-launched plans to convert his ancestral home into a full-fledged music museum and cultural complex. The Bangladesh National Museum is leading feasibility studies under a three-member committee headed by Md Serajul Islam. The planned museum aims for […]
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On September 12, 2025, Kazakhstan opened the Almaty Museum of Arts—its latest museum built to international standards and designed to host major art exhibitions. This is more than another cultural facility; it is a statement of ambition. Almaty has long been a regional hub, and this museum aims to tie together local artistic heritage, global conversations, and infrastructure strong enough to support both. With modern galleries, climate control, conservation spaces, wet and dry workshops, and […]
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The Archaeological Survey of India’s Piloted Model for Heritage Commerce The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recently announced an initiative that may finally bridge the awkward gap between history as something you passively observe and history as something you can take home. At 55 select monuments, ranging from Qutub Minar to Gol Gumbaz, the ASI will transform its existing publication counters into full-fledged souvenir shops. These shops will stock replicas, craft items, and heritage-inspired […]
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In a significant move toward preserving cultural memory, the Assam government has recently acquired the Kuthori house of Bhupen Hazarika, including seven bighas of land, for about ₹2.51 crore. The plan is to restore and transform it into a museum or cultural centre that honours the legendary musician’s legacy. Kuthori, near Kaziranga, holds special meaning: it was among the places where Hazarika wrote and composed many of his iconic songs. This step comes in his […]
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Kottayam, Kerala—affectionately called the “City of Letters”—is adding a new chapter to its literary lineage. India’s first Museum of Letters and Literature is set to receive a ₹15 crore expansion funded by KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board). This isn’t just bricks and mortar—it’s a symbolic, sophisticated celebration of linguistic diversity. With new galleries, digitisation labs, and conservation units on the way, the museum is staking a claim as a rare cultural institution in India, […]
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In a moment of solemn reckoning, France returned three colonial-era human skulls to Madagascar in late August 2025. This comes 128 years after they were taken following a violent confrontation. Among them is believed to be the skull of King Toera of the Sakalava people, decapitated by French troops in 1897. This restitution, under France’s 2023 law, marks a significant, if belated, step toward repairing colonial-era wrongs. But it’s also a reminder of how many […]
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The Long Shadow of Nazi Loot: Stolen, Spotted, and Gone Again Imagine a painting, nearly eight decades lost to the annals of wartime chaos, suddenly reappearing in plain sight and then disappearing once more under the shadow of suspicion. That is the perplexing story behind Portrait of a Lady by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi. Originally looted from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker during the Nazi era, its reappearance in Argentina has reopened painful chapters of […]
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