Arnold Schwarzenegger museum open

30 July 2011 Last updated at 12:22 GMT By Bethany Bell BBC News, Graz Bethany Bell takes a look around the new museum in Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home

Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home in Austria has opened as a museum.

It came as the former Mr Universe, who went on to be a Hollywood star and governor of California, turned 64.

On display at the museum are his childhood bed, a motorbike from one of the Terminator films, some of his first dumb-bells, and a copy of the desk he used as governor of California.

The family lived in the first floor flat with no electricity or running water

Mr Schwarzenegger left the village of Thal, near the city of Graz, in 1966, but has given the project his blessing.

A plaque by the door reads "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Birth House Museum," although one of the locals later told me he was born in a nearby hospital.

He lived with his family in the modest first floor flat from his birth in 1947 until 1966 when he left to pursue his dreams of winning the Mr Universe competition.

Pit toilet

It was a humble beginning. The flat had no electricity and no running water.

The museum shows the house's original pit toilet, and a 1950s kitchen, with a washstand and jugs for collecting water.

In one of the rooms, the star's childhood bed is on display. "This is where he first started to dream of success," the curator, Peter Urdl told me.

It was while he was living in Thal, that he first started pumping iron.

Schwarzenegger found early success as a bodybuilder

As well as trophies and photographs from his early days of bodybuilding, the museum also has some of his first dumb-bells.

And it has his original home work-out machine, a pulley with weights attached which hung in a door frame inside the flat.

The museum charts his obsessive training routine and describes how his success at bodybuilding led him eventually to Hollywood.

And it has a collection of Schwarzenegger movie memorabilia, including a Harley Davidson motorbike from one of the Terminator films and a sword from Conan the Barbarian.

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He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting... I think the Austrian people are really proud”

End Quote Helga Forstner Museum co-ordinator Visitors to the museum can pose next to a life-size model of Arnie as the Terminator.

Controversy

The museum also has a section dedicated to his time as governor of California, including a facsimile of his desk.

Although he lives half a world away, Schwarzenegger's exploits are closely followed in Austria.

A number of his policies as governor were controversial here, including his support for the death penalty.

His name was taken off a stadium in the neighbouring town of Graz in 2005, when he rejected pleas to spare the life of a California gang leader.

The museum bills itself as the world's only Schwarzenegger museum

But while Austrians are not always comfortable with his politics, many of them are nonetheless fascinated.

"He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting and so special and I think the Austrian people are really proud," Helga Forstner, the museum co-ordinator told me.

"He always comes to visit Thal when he is in Austria," she said. "He came here on 21 June and he was really excited about the exhibits."

Thal continued to play a role in his life, years after he left home. One photograph shows the rowing boat in which he proposed to his now estranged wife, Maria Shriver, on a nearby lake.

But the exhibition does not touch on her recent filing for divorce. Mr Schwarzenegger recently admitted fathering a child with the couple's long-time housekeeper.

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'World class' art museum opening

7 July 2011 Last updated at 06:32 GMT It follows a ?6.5m overhaul of gallery space at the venue in Cardiff.

The head of Wales' national museum says that it now has a world-class display for its world-class collection of art.

A ?6.5m new museum showcasing Welsh and Welsh-owned art is to open to the public in Cardiff on Saturday.

The National Museum of Art has been created with private and Welsh Government funding at National Museum Cardiff in Cathays Park.

Six new galleries - the West Wing - will highlight the museum's collection of modern and contemporary art.

"We have a world class collection and this will be a world class display for it," said David Anderson, director general of National Museums and Galleries of Wales (NMGW).

The project was first mooted a decade ago in a consultation with visitors, who said they wanted to see more contemporary art on display in an international context.

Passionate collectors

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Twenty years ago there was more emphasis on international artists in this institution and not enough on the work of Welsh-born artists”

End Quote David Anderson NMGW director general Work on transforming the buildings galleries began in 2007.

From this weekend visitors will be able to view works from the museum's collection dating from Tudor times to modern day Wales.

As well as contemporary art, the collection includes European Old Master paintings from the 16th and 17th Centuries, and French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.

Many of the latter was bequeathed by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies - two sisters from mid Wales who were passionate collectors of art from around 1908 onwards.

The first display in the West Wing, titled "I cannot escape this place," will include works by 44 artists including Josef Herman, Bedwyr Williams, Francis Bacon and Richard Long.

Mr Anderson said he hoped the art museum would help boost the profile of Cardiff as a European capital and Wales as a cultural destination.

Continue reading the main story Wales' new National Museum of Art covers 4,000 sq m (43,000 sq ft) of space at National Museum CardiffIt cost ?6.5m, most of it raised from private sources and the Welsh GovernmentIt is one of the largest art venues outside LondonThe contemporary art galleries - the West Wing - cover nearly 800 sq m (8,600 sq ft) making the largest space for contemporary art in WalesThe redeveloped galleries offer 40% more space for the national contemporary collection"There's a real sense of cultural growth here in Cardiff," said Mr Anderson, who joined NMGW from London's Victoria and Albert Museum last year.

"Any European capital will see culture as a vital part of the message it sends out to the rest of the world."

'Cultural mile'

He said from the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Castle in the city centre, and now the museum in Cathays Park , there was "a cultural mile" that the city should be promoting.

"In terms of economic value for Cardiff and Wales we should be exploiting it more than we do," he said.

Mr Anderson said he hoped the museum would inspire Welsh artists and that a balance could be struck between Welsh and international art.

"Twenty years ago there was more emphasis on international artists in this institution and not enough on the work of Welsh-born artists," he said. "These galleries will I hope will get the balance right."

The museum will showcase its collection of Welsh contemporary art

The programme for the next two years will highlight work from the museum's collection of more than 40,000 works, Mr Anderson explained.

But he added: "I'm sure in the long term we will see more touring exhibitions here in Cardiff.

The museum also hopes to repeat soon the recent tour of some of its collection to the United States, he revealed.

"Welsh culture should be seen overseas in places like the US, Europe, China and India," said Mr Anderson.

The National Museum of Art is the first of three new institutions for Wales.

In the next decade these it hopes also to create a National Museum of History at St Fagans, near Cardiff, and a National Museum of Science and Natural History, also at Cathays Park.

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Conran donates to Design Museum

29 June 2011 Last updated at 13:00 GMT Sir Terence's gift will help the museum's relocation to a space with more room for exhibitions Designer Sir Terence Conran donates ?7.5m towards a project to develop London's Design Museum.

Trustees of the museum said the cash gift would "help to create the world's leading museum of contemporary design and architecture in London".

The museum is relocating from its current site at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building to make more space.

Sir Terence has also pledged the lease value of the sale to the project.

'The best museum'

The designer - who turns 80 this year - currently owns the lease on the building, which is thought to be worth ?10m.

The donation, combined with financial support over the last 30 years, brings the Conran Foundation's contribution to the museum and its predecessor to ?50m.

"It is my ambition to have the world's greatest design museum. We are thought of as the greatest creative nation in the world so why not have the best, most beautiful design museum?" Sir Terence told the BBC.

He added that they "simply don't have the space at the moment" in the existing Thameside facility, while the task of raising the remainder of the money for the project has been "made much easier by the government's enthusiasm for design".

But Sir Terence denies that his name should be enshrined in the new museum.

"No no no, I'm not Tate. Modesty is an important thing in design," he said.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport praised Sir Terence's altruism.

"Sir Terence's exceptionally generous gift to the Design Museum will not only help this excellent cultural institution move to a new home, but will also help showcase Britain's ability to produce some of the world's greatest designers and influence design on a global scale."

The 1960s Commonwealth Institute building in west London, which has been empty since 2001, is expected to create three times more space for exhibitions.

John Pawson is to convert the interior and Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) will create the surrounding development.

The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

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Van Gogh Museum closing for refit

27 June 2011 Last updated at 11:00 GMT Around 1.5 million people visit the Van Gogh Museum each year Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is to close for six months for renovations next year, its director has announced.

Axel Ruger said the renovation was necessary "to ensure the condition of the building and the safety of the visitors in the long run".

He added around 75 of the artist's masterpieces and a number of works on paper will move to the nearby Hermitage Amsterdam during the repairs.

The museum will be closed from October 2012 until March 2013.

Mr Ruger said the museum "simply cannot disappoint" the 1.5 million people who visit the venue annually and were working hard to keep the collection available to the public elsewhere.

"Art lovers will be able to see a splendid survey of 19th century art by Van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Hermitage Amsterdam.

"This represents a rare opportunity, one not likely to happen again any time soon," he added.

The refurbishment, necessary due to more robust government security requirements, were partly completed in 2010.

The second phase of the work must be finished by mid-2014. However, the museum plans for it to be completed well in advance as 2013 marks the museum's 40th jubilee and van Gogh's 160th birthday.

It is the latest major Dutch museum to close for reconstruction.

The nearby Rijksmuseum and Stedelijkmuseum both have been undergoing major renovations for the past few years, but have kept the best parts of their collections on display at other locations.

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British Museum wins arts accolade

15 June 2011 Last updated at 20:47 GMT A seated Buddha from Gandhara was one of the objects included in the History of the World project The British Museum has been named Museum of the Year by the Art Fund.

The accolade was awarded to the museum after the success of its History of the World project which attempted to tell the world's history in 100 objects.

The project, which included a 100-part series on BBC Radio 4, featured objects such as the world's oldest football.

Other shortlisted museums were the University of Cambridge's Polar Museum, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway and Roman Baths Museum in Bath.

The British Museum was presented with a ?100,000 prize at a ceremony held at Tate Britain on Wednesday evening.

Former cabinet minister Michael Portillo, who chaired the judging panel, said: "We were particularly impressed by the truly global scope of the British Museum's project, which combined intellectual rigour and open heartedness, and went far beyond the boundaries of the museum's walls.

"Above all, we felt that this project, which showed a truly pioneering use of digital media, has led the way for museums to interact with their audiences in new and different ways."

The museum's director Neil MacGregor said: "The British Museum is delighted to win the Art Fund Prize on behalf of the extraordinary coalition of UK museums that made A History of the World so successful.

"A History of the World celebrated objects and the stories they tell; the prize will pay for a series of Spotlight Tours, lending star British Museum objects around England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales."

The project involved 550 heritage partners and museums across the country as well the BBC.

This is the first time a London-based national museum has won the prize.

Previous winners include the Ulster Museum, Stoke-on-Trent's Wedgwood Museum and the National Mining Museum in Wales.

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