A skeleton reaches up from the ground to clutch at a fantastical winged creature. A hunched figure wearing a face mask drags behind it an entangled mass of stricken faces and lanky limbs. A butterfly flutters out of the mouth of a body laid to rest.

A travel bag belonging to the ill-fated French queen Marie-Antoinette sold for more than five times its estimate in an auction of royal memorabilia near her one-time home at the Palace of Versailles.

Greece on Saturday urged Britain to return the Parthenon Marbles -- often known as the Elgin Marbles -- as one of the world's greatest ancient sites the Acropolis re-opens after the coronavirus shutdown.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte announced Sunday he intends to try to buy back the world's most famous circus troupe, which is struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Enjoying a bit of culture this weekend, when people celebrate Idul Fitri at home during the pandemic, does not require you to walk out your door.

Prominent Egyptian sculptor Adam Henein, who led the restoration of the Great Sphinx in Giza, died on Friday at the age of 91. 

On a street in Milan, the capital of Italy's Lombardy region, which has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis begs for alms, his cassock in tatters.

In a sign that the coronavirus will one day be history, the Czech National Museum is opening an exhibition of face masks worn to protect against the infection.

A team of international researchers have identified human breath as the main reason for the deterioration of Munch's 1910 masterpiece, "The Scream", which belongs in the collection of the Munch Museum in Oslo.

An Italian woman on Wednesday won a Pablo Picasso painting worth 1 million euros in a French charity raffle that raised money for African water projects.

The symphony orchestra of Ukrainian radio held its first concert recording for TV, radio and online platforms since coronavirus lockdown measures were partially eased in early May.

Israeli researchers on Tuesday unveiled mysterious underground rooms with an unknown function, carved out of the bedrock near where the Second Jewish Temple is believed to have stood two millennia ago.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said Tuesday it hopes to reopen in mid-August or a few weeks later with reduced visiting hours and no guided tours so as to encourage social distancing.

Switching the Arts Back on - priNT 2020, a group exhibition of work by printmakers from the NT, Australia and Germany, opened midday Friday to an enthusiastic Darwin art community who during the event maintained safe social distancing.

An exhibition commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance artist Raphael will reopen on June 2 in Rome and its run extended until Aug.30, after it fell foul of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Vienna's prestigious Philharmonic Orchestra said Monday that a study into how far musicians' breath travels when playing instruments showed they faced no added risk of transmitting the novel coronavirus when performing.

Shakespeare's Globe, the replica open-air theater in London, has warned it could close without emergency government funds to get it through the coronavirus lockdown, documents showed Monday.

Italy's La Biennale di Venezia said on Monday its 17th International Architecture Exhibition would be postponed until 2021, the latest high-profile cultural event to be disrupted by the coronavirus crisis. 

The Danish-Icelandic conceptual artist has launched a new augmented reality (AR) project in conjunction with digital art app Acute Art.

Move over Pokemon and Hello Kitty, in coronavirus-hit Japan, a new character has captured hearts and hopes: Amabie, a beak-nosed, long-locked mythical mermaid monster said to repel plagues.

Lovers of Frederic Chopin's music who usually flock to a central Warsaw park on Sundays for open-air concerts will have to go online this season to hear the weekly performances because of restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Open for bidding through May 27, "VICE" features masterworks by Pictures Generation queen Barbara Kruger, sharp jokester Richard Prince, consumerism commentator KAWS and many more.

The immense global success of the documentary "The Last Dance" amid the coronavirus lockdown has boosted sales of collectibles related to NBA icon Michael Jordan, some of which are trading in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A Polish documentary on child abuse by Catholic clerics put a damper Saturday on centenary celebrations of the venerated late Pope John Paul II's birth. 

The 2011 musical concert is a legacy of the late versatile artist, a cantata of his love for the nation.

Austria on Friday outlined plans to start allowing seated cultural events of up to 100 people in two weeks' time, ramping up to 1,000 people from Aug. 1, as it eases coronavirus restrictions.

The legendary Bolshoi Theater, whose dancers and singers are currently under virus lockdown, hopes to hold its first performances in September, the general director Vladimir Urin told AFP on Friday.

The pandemic has brought Indonesia's arts scene together to fight the good fight, one artwork at a time.

Activists in Oslo make a last-ditch bid to save a building adorned by Spanish master painter Pablo Picasso.

A new online marketplace is helping batik artisans and small businesses in the Central Java town of Lasem to survive the pandemic.