From Whitney Houston’s dresses in Nashville to the most expensive Rolex in Los Angeles to a U$1 billion Egyptian archaeological showcase, the world’s newest museums
- It’s not just Hong Kong’s M+. Around the world, new museums have sprung up, from Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music to LA’s Academy Museum
- The world’s biggest archaeological museum opens soon in Egypt, Shanghai and Osaka have new art museums and the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna has expanded
As Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture finally cuts the velvet rope, we take a look at other museums around the globe that have recently opened, or are in the process of opening.
The Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Osaka might be best known for sensational street food, raucous comedy clubs and electrifying nightlife, but for a more cerebral take on the city, future visitors might like to head for Nakanoshima. It joins the nearby Osaka Science Museum and the National Museum of Art, Osaka.
Behind the Nakanoshima Museum of Art’s striking black block facade are nearly 6,000 works of contemporary Asian and international art. René Magritte’s surrealist painting Le Bouquet Tout Fait (1957) and Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture Le Nez (The Nose, 1949) are part of the permanent collection, alongside important Japanese Impressionist paintings by Yoshihara Jiro and Fujishima Takeji. Elsewhere, there are industrial design archives, an auditorium and a room dedicated to the Kansai-based Gutai avant-garde art movement of the 1950s.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza
The sands of time have slipped by since the Grand Egyptian Museum was originally set to open in 2011 – but what’s a mere 10 years to a civilisation that has been around for more than five millennia?
What will become the world’s largest archaeological museum is now slated to open in November 2022, on the Sahara-whipped outskirts of Cairo, inside the Giza pyramid complex, which encompasses the Great Sphinx and the Giza Necropolis.
Costing over US$1 billion, the museum will host more than 100,000 artefacts across dozens of galleries, including an enormous, 82-tonne (90-ton), 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II and a ritual Khufu ship dating back to around 2500BC, as well as 2,000 treasures that will be on display for the first time.
The centrepiece of the collection will be the Tutankhamen gallery, featuring thousands of items recovered from the Boy King’s tomb, including his gold mask and sarcophagus, piles of jewels and a gold ceremonial chariot.
The National Museum of African American Music, Nashville, USA
Joining the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Grand Ole Opry, the National Museum of African American Music seals Nashville’s status as America’s undisputed Music City.
