Museum

My wife, Dee, and I began our trip to Russia on May 8, 2013, when we flew Delta Air Lines from Fort Myers, Florida, to New York, then took Aeroflot to Moscow.

Our first few nights in Russia were spent in the 25-story Cosmos Hotel (150, Prospekt Mira, Moscow, 129366, Russia; phone +7 [495] 234 10 00, www.hotel
cosmos-moscow.com), located near the city’s All-Russia Exhibition Centre.

Tell us about the funniest thing that happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Include your full mailing address. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged. 

This month’s winner is MICHAEL J.E. BURGE of Ventura, California:

Open until Aug. 20, 2015, in Buenos Aires, the exhibit “Latin American Art of the 20th Century” is showing works of some of the most important Latin American artists from the early 20th century through 1999, including pieces by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Antonio Dias.

The Museum of Latin America (Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415, C1425CLA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; phone +54 11 4808 6500, www.malba.org.ar/en [mostly in Spanish]) is open 12-8 p.m. Thurs.-Mon. and 12-9 Wed. Closed Tues.  ARS60 (near $7) adult or ARS30 student.

Exploring the nature and future of luxury and including items crafted of gold, gems, plastic and cloth, the “What is Luxury?” exhibit will be held April 25-Sept. 27, 2015, at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Cromwell Rd., London, SW7 2RL, U.K.; phone +44 020 7942 2000, www.vam.ac.uk).

The museum, near the South Kensington Underground station, is open 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m., Mon.-Thur. & Sat.-Sun. and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri. Admission is free.

Thirteen pictures taken at the launch of the Titanic in Belfast in 1911 are among 116 pictures never previously exhibited that have recently been added to the permanent TITANICa exhibit at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum (Cultra, Holywood, BT18 0EU, Northern Ireland, U.K.; phone +44 28 9042 8428, www.nmni.com/uftm).

The sepia-toned pictures were originally owned by the director of Harland & Wolff, the shipyard that built the ill-fated ship.

In Amsterdam, the life of Vincent van Gogh, his development as an artist and his influence on art are examined in a new, building-wide, permanent exhibit at the Van Gogh Museum (Paulus Potterstraat 7, 1071 CX Amsterdam, Netherlands; phone +31 20 570 5200, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en).

Along with his paintings, the museum now includes drawings and letters from the artist. Subjects such as his mental illness and suicide are addressed in the museum for the first time.

A museum dedicated to culture and art of the Maasai- and Maa-speaking peoples opened in Nairobi in early 2014. It includes exhibits on marriage, livestock, mythology, medicine, religion and social organization plus a replica of a Maasai manyatta, or hut.

The Maa Museum, Kenya’s first privately registered museum, is located at the Enashipai Resort (office on 5th Floor, Prosperity House, Westlands Road, Nairobi, Kenya; phone +254 20 5130000, www.enashipai.com).

Morocco has opened its first major museum since becoming independent from France in 1956. Featuring modern and contemporary Moroccan art, the Muhammed VI Museum (Angle Avenue Moulay El Hassan et Avenue Allal Ben Abdellah, 10,000, Rabat, Morocco; phone +212 [0] 5 37 76 90 47, www.museemohammed6.ma [in French only]) opened in Rabat on Oct. 7, 2014, after 10 years of construction.

Its first exhibit, “1914-2014: 100 years of Creation,” includes pieces created within the last 100 years from more than 150 Moroccan artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Mon. Entry, MAD20 (near $2.30).