Greece's Bavarian-born King Otto considered offering Britain cash or antiquities in the 19th century in exchange for marbles removed from the Acropolis, previously unpublished historical files have shown.

"There is a document to the foreign ministry, subsequently forwarded to Otto's minister in London, with instructions on how to request the marbles back," Acropolis Museum director Demetrios Pantermalis told a conference on Monday.

Somalia's national theatre reopened in the war-ravaged capital Mogadishu for the first time in 20 years Monday with the president voicing hope it would mark a watershed in the long quest for peace.

"Somalia has historic literary traditions that date back more 700 years... and I feel that resuming such traditions will play a role in the peace process," President Sharif Sheik Ahmed said in a speech at the open-air Chinese-built theatre.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday launched an updated version of its online Einstein Archives website, providing access to more than 80,000 documents connected to the seminal physicist.

One of the founders of the Hebrew University, Albert Einstein bequeathed all his writings and intellectual heritage to the institution.

The crumbling oval skeleton of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party perches like a deserted flying saucer atop Mount Buzludzha, visible from miles around.

It is one of a number of enormous communist relics still standing more than two decades after the toppling of the regime they glorified, putting the Bulgarian authorities in a quandary since they can neither maintain nor dismantle them.

A century before cultural diplomacy became a buzzword for governments around the world, Japan scored a spectacular success -- Washington's cherry blossoms, which have become one of the U.S. capital's top tourist attractions.

First planted in 1912 on central Washington's then barren Tidal Basin, the gifts from Japan each year now draw more than one million visitors who revel in the famously short-lived beauty of the blooming pink and white cherry petals.

A Chinese farmer has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for stealing works of art and jewels from the Forbidden City last year, his lawyer said on Monday, in a rare theft at the ancient imperial palace.

Shi Baikui, 27, from the eastern province of Shandong, was arrested last May at an Internet cafe in the Chinese capital more than 48 hours after committing the theft.

A group of Sydney Symphony Orchestra musicians scaled the city's Harbor Bridge for an exclusive concert on Monday to celebrate the sweeping structure's 80th birthday.

Known as the "Grand Old Dame" of Sydney, or more colloquially "The Coathanger", the bridge was officially opened to traffic on March 19, 1932, joining the harbor’s northern and southern shores for the first time.

Marco Muller, who is winding up his mandate as head of the Venice Film Festival, has been named artistic director of Rome's international film festival, the Cinema Foundation said Friday in a statement.

"I couldn't be happier, I'm returning to my city after 22 years to work on an exciting project," said Muller, who was born in Rome. "Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work."

Hong Kong director Ann Hui will be honored for her life's work at the Asian Film Awards on Monday, in recognition of classics such as "Song of the Exile".

Hui, the first female director to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, is widely regarded as a pioneer of the southern city's New Wave of the 1970s and 1980s.

The graphic scenes of real life destruction wreaked by last year's tsunami left manga artist Jiro Taniguchi wondering what the point of his art form was.

The 64-year-old was sitting at his desk on March 11 last year when Japan was changed forever by the huge earthquake and the enormous tsunami it sent hurtling into the coast.