The Musee d'Orsay, Paris's well-known museum hosting many impressionist paintings, has dropped its ban on visitors taking photos of its artworks after France's culture minister openly flouted the restriction.
The museum is now aligning itself with rules in force in other major museums in Paris and around the world, which allow visitors to take photos as long as flashes and tripods aren't used.

A rare manuscript belonging to British mathematician and code breaker Alan Turing went on show in Hong Kong Thursday ahead of an auction in New York where it is expected to fetch at least $1 million.
The sale of the recently discovered notebook comes at a time of enormous interest in Turing's life and work generated by Hollywood film "The Imitation Game", which won an Oscar in February.

The Louvre, New York's MoMA, the National Gallery of Australia, the Tokyo National Museum, Shakespeare's Globe in Britain and more than 1,400 other museums around the world are coming to Twitter next week.
From Monday, art institutions in 50 countries will be tweeting under the hashtag #MuseumWeek to publicize their collections and to highlight reactions, the U.S.-based social network said in a statement.

The demise of Mexico's enigmatic pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan stemmed from a conflict among the civilization's elite classes, with buildings set ablaze in the clash, according to a study.
The famed pyramids of the Sun and Moon are among the majestic structures that remain at the tourist site near Mexico City, centuries after Teotihuacan's population vanished.

The art collection of the late former chairman of Goldman Sachs is heading to auction.
Christie's says 90 impressionist and post-impressionist works belonging to John Whitehead could bring over $40 million.

Mass tourism spurred by cheap flights and richer emerging economies is forcing the world's top museums to rethink their welcome, notably by boosting access, embracing apps and improving ancillary services such as eateries and gift shops.
The overhaul is dictated by the sheer numbers of visitors crowding galleries to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, a Van Gogh canvas or a Michelangelo statue.

Visitors to museums are long used to feasting their eyes on sumptuous works of art -- but having to resort to little better than snack food for sustenance between galleries.
Now, though, the temples of culture are increasingly turning attention to their eateries, looking to lift the fare on their tables to the same level as what's hanging on the walls.

While some museums are still somewhat skittish about selling souvenirs, New York's celebrated MoMA leads the way in retail innovation, its design boutiques almost as popular as the artwork on display.
The museum opened its first shop in 1939 -- a simple sales counter on the MoMA premises on 53rd Street in Manhattan.

It's been called the biggest art heist in U.S. history, perhaps the biggest in the world. But 25 years later, the theft of 13 works from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum remains unsolved.
The theft has spawned books, rumors and speculation about who was responsible — and multiple dead ends.

Spain on Tuesday unearthed the apparent remains of Spanish literary giant Miguel de Cervantes in a Madrid convent almost 400 years after his death.
Forensic anthropologist Francisco Etxebarria said that after a year-long search his team had positively identified in an alcove in a convent crypt "some fragments" of the "Don Quixote" author who died in 1616 a week after William Shakespeare.
