The Kyoto National Museum (527 Chaya-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan 605-0931; phone 075 541 1151) will partially reopen April 21, 2014, with a special exhibition of early Buddhist art. The entire museum was closed December 2008 to make way for a new main building to hold its permanent collection of 12,000 pieces of art and archaeological objects. The main Collections Hall, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, will open Sept. 13.
(Part 1 of 2 on Paris)
Two Paris museums, the Musée de Montmartre and the Musée de National du Moyen Âge (National Museum of the Middle Ages, commonly known as the Cluny), would seem to have nothing in common, save that both hold collections… until one takes note of their gardens.
Established in 1834, the Numismatic Museum of Athens (Iliou Melathron, El. Venizelou [Panepistimiou] 12, Greece; phone +30210 3632057) has a collection of 500,000 objects dating from the 14th century BC to the present day. The permanent collection, which spans six rooms on the first floor of the museum, focuses on coins of the Greek and Hellenistic city-states.
Admission, €3 (near $4). Open 1-8 p.m. Mon. and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun. (Closed Jan. 1, March 25, Orthodox Easter Sunday, May 1 and Dec. 25-26.)
When in DENMARK, consider purchasing a Copenhagen Card (at tourist information centers and selected hotels, hostels and 7/11 stores in Copenhagen or online).
On our September ’12 trip, my husband, David, and I each bought a 24-hour card to “get out of town.” That may sound strange, but the cards work on the regional trains as well as in the city and we wanted to see two castles that day: Frederiksborg (the “Danish Versailles”) and Kronborg (“Hamlet’s castle”).
The Bastogne War Museum (Colline du Mardasson), a new museum dedicated to the Battle of the Bulge and WWII, will open on March 22, 2014, in Bastogne, Belgium, just 1½ hours from Brussels. This modern, interactive museum is located close to the famous Mardasson Memorial. 10 a.m to 5 p.m. daily (until 6:30 p.m. on weekends). €12 (near $16) adult, €9 senior and €8 child (6-18 years).
In downtown Hamburg, a new museum has been built in the former crypt of the famous St. Nikolai Church (last rebuilt in 1846), which was partially destroyed during World War II.
Opened on Sept. 1, 2013, the new permanent exhibition (presented in English and German) is divided into four themed sections: St. Nikolai Church’s history, Hamburg before and during the war, consequences of the city’s destruction, and memories of the war plus its impact.
Inside the one remaining spire of the church, there is a 76-meter-high observation deck reached by a glass-enclosed elevator.
The new Red Star Line Museum (Montevideostraat 3, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium; phone +32 3 298 27 70), located in the historic warehouses of the shipping company in Antwerp, Belgium, opened on Sept. 28.
Mirroring the Ellis Island story, the museum brings to life the journey of more than two million people who emigrated via Antwerp to New York, amongst them iconic passengers such as Irving Berlin and Albert Einstein.
Panama’s new BioMuseo, aka Museum of Biodiversity [website in Spanish only], is scheduled to open in January 2014. The 43,000-square-foot museum, designed by Frank Gehry, will include eight display galleries highlighting Panama’s flora and fauna, from the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama 3,000,000 years ago to the present day.
At Balhousie Castle in Perth, Scotland, the Black Watch Museum reopened on June 25 following a one-year, £3.5-million renovation and expansion,
One of the most famous regiments in Scotland, the Black Watch was formed in 1715 to calm the troubles in the Highlands, and it has fought in many of the biggest conflicts of the past 300 years, including the American Revolution and both World Wars and, more recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
