UK loses major collection to Abu Dhabi

Friday 14 August 2026

What’s happening in museums, galleries, art and heritage

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Happy Friday.

The countdown is officially on.

There’s now less than a month until the Bayeux Tapestry is finally unveiled at the British Museum, for its landmark once-in-a-millennium loan to the UK. The King will inaugurate the display on 02 September, before the first ticket holders arrive just over a week later.

Despite the extensive coverage about its arrival — yes, including in this newsletter, it is the UK’s biggest exhibition this century after all — we are still to this day learning new details of how this coup came to be.

In a recent interview in the Times with the show’s British Museum curators Michael Lewis and Millie Horton-Insch, we discovered that the French originally wanted the Rosetta Stone in return for the Tapestry. But it was deemed too contentious — with the object first taken from Egypt by Napoleon, it was thought the Egyptian’s would not take kindly to this move.

In the same interview, another fascinating revelation was that the deal was essentially sealed among the sunshine and super rich at the Cannes Film Festival. The French culture minister, Rachida Dati, summoned Sir Chris Bryant (then museums minister) to her hotel room. “You must go down on bended knee and propose it to me,” she reportedly told him. “Then you can have the tapestry.” It’s unclear whether Dati was speaking metaphorically. Either way, Bryant obliged.

Lewis also gave a glimpse of the merch that will be on offer. With even the bespoke case displaying the woven artwork reportedly costing over £2m, the museum will be banking on getting those tills ringing as much as possible. There’ll be everything from “Liberty cushions” to “a special tea by Fortnum & Mason,” with everything from tea towels, scarves and jigsaw puzzles in between. And of course, there’s the already-announced £150 exhibition catalogue.

And while I’m sure the tidbits of still-to-be-found news about the historic loan are starting to run dry, I have no doubt as we move towards the opening there’ll be some unpredictable developments to make headlines (for example, with half a million people logging on to buy the 100,000 tickets that went sale last month, a ticket scalping scandal surely can’t be too far away?!).

It’ll also be fascinating to watch how new Prime Minister Andy Burnham performs at the royal opening in what will be one of his first high-profile diplomatic and cultural engagements. Will there, for example, be a chance for journalists to ask him under the glass roof of the Great Court whether he stands by his view that the Parthenon Sculptures should be sent back to Greece “no strings”?

There’s definitely going to be more to come. And as always, all the developments will be covered here in this newsletter just for you — and always for free.

Now onto this week’s news!

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After nearly six decades, the National Motor Museum has announced it will leave its home at Beaulieu in the New Forest. Trustees said they had “begun the process of identifying a transformational new home” as its current lease “approaches the end of its 60-year term.”

But there are reports of tensions between the independent trust that runs the museum and the commercial company that manages the Beaulieu Estate. The Motor Museum was recently turned down for major funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund because of the financial relationship between the two.

Reports say only a very small proportion of the £27.56 Beaulieu entry fee goes to the museum — despite it generating around three quarters of Beaulieu’s visitor numbers. Negotiations over a new lease and revised commercial arrangements broke down last month.

A source said the trust “couldn’t get the lottery money without changing the fundamental structure. So they decided to move.” It’s thought the relocation will come by 2030, despite the lease running for a further two years. (Read more)

One of the most important collections of Britain’s Jurassic fossils ever assembled has been acquired by the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi in the UAE, in what’s been described as “a loss to the UK.”

The collection of over 300 items was built by Lyme Regis fossil collector Chris Moore over 45 years. He’s described as “without doubt the most successful fossil collector” in Britain.

Both the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London and Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales were offered the items for a reported “eight-figure sum”. Both declined for lack of funds. NHM said they had “no money at all” for acquisitions.

Richard Butler, a professor of palaebiology at the University of Birmingham who was not involved in the sale, told the Guardian that “this sale raises important questions about whether more should be done to preserve important and irreplaceable natural heritage such as this for the benefit of the UK public.”

The Abu Dhabi museum already has the fossil collection on display, exhibiting them since it opened in November 2025. (Read more)

Storehouse staff win paid-breaks ✅
The industrial dispute by collections staff at V&A East Storehouse has been resolved. Workers on the Order an object service had voted to strike over inadequate toilet and hydration breaks. The V&A has now given in to demands for two additional paid breaks a day. Union Prospect said “it was only direct industrial pressure and negative media coverage that have forced this change of position.” Staff across all the V&A’s London sites will still strike over a wider dispute over pay. (Read more)

Photos found at Ground Zero mark 9/11 anniversary 📸
A new permanent display of 36 photographs taken by a man killed by the collapse of the World Trade Centre in New York will form part of Imperial War Museum’s commemorations of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. They’ll be shown around a section of steelwork recovered from Ground Zero that’s in the museum’s collection. Bill Biggart was capturing images of the terror attack when he died, and his cameras were found in the wreckage. It’s the first time they’ll be displayed outside the USA. (Read more)

Dobson masterpiece heads to Hull 🎨
Jointly acquired last year by Tate and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) for £2.4m, the earliest known work by William Dobson — the first great British painter of the 17th century — is going on loan. Currently at Tate Britain, in January, Dobson’s Self-Portrait will go to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, before a stint at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. It’ll then return to London for NPG’s first chance to show it. I’m told where it’ll go after that has yet to be decided. (Read more)

418 artworks sold by Reform-led Kent council ❌
Freedom of Information requests have revealed that Reform UK-led Kent County Council sold off 418 art works from its collection between May 2025 and April 2026. Most were sold at an auction, raising about £40,000. The council’s Liberal Democrat group leader called it "a short-sighted act of civic vandalism" and “an unmonitored backroom fire sale." As of 30 April, the county council owned 1,231 works and said none of its collection was on display. (Read more)

Data hack hits museums and galleries 💻
The Foundling Museum, York Museums Trust and Chiswick House and Gardens are among hundreds of cultural organisations and charities which have experienced a massive data breach through their use of third-party data management provider Beacon CRM. Beacon has warned it may never know the extent of the incident, but has told organisations to “assume that all data that you store in Beacon…has been downloaded” by hackers. (Read more)

Italy 🇮🇹
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence have announced a major €50m revamp as part of efforts to handle increasing visitor numbers. New lighting, redeveloped displays, and a new €2.4m exhibition space on the history of the collection are among the plans. Visitors are expected to reach a record 5.3 million a year, up from 4.4 million in 2019, and they’re set to rise further. Half of the overall budget is covered by ticket sales while the other half will come from culture ministry funds. (Read more)

Austria 🇦🇹
An installation of 320 gold-coloured Mozart figurines by German artist Ottmar Hörl has been closed early after 210 of them were stolen. The figures were shown in groups across Salzburg to mark the composer’s 270th birthday. Most of the thefts occurred from the city’s Mirabell Gardens. Hörl called it “organized theft" as it’s thought they were stolen overnight when the gardens were locked. It was hoped replacements could be made, but that was thwarted as the manufacturer is on summer holiday. (Read more)

USA 🇺🇸
The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC have voted again to inscribe President Trump’s name on the building. Trump’s name was added last year, but a judge ordered the letters were taken down. Now, the board — mostly hand-picked allies of the President — has approved an inscription underneath the institution’s name that will read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” An outnumbered Democrat congressman who sits on the board called it “a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling.” (Read more)

Livestream eclipses all others in Greenwich
Wednesday’s solar eclipse was the most watched livestream ever from Royal Museum’s Greenwich. Over a million views were recorded. The museum’s website also had over 900,000 visitors in a single day, around ten times more than average. (Full story)

Towner gallery gets new boss
Martin Clark — Director of Camden Art Centre for the past decade — has been appointed the new boss of the Towner gallery in Eastbourne. “He has a strong feel for our vital regional galleries” Towner’s trustee Chair said. (Full story)

More maritime heritage sails into Hull
Hull's famous trawler ship the Arctic Corsair has taken its final journey. Crowds gathered at 6am to see it hauled to the city’s dry-dock at North End Shipyard where it will become a major heritage visitor attraction. (Full story)

Warrior women get British Museum exhibition
The British Museum will host a major exhibition on the Amazons, “the legendary warrior women of Greek mythology.” The news is revealed as the museum advertises for a project curator (salary £30,775 per annum) to help develop the show. (Full story)

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👀 Last edition’s most clicked stories:
🥇 The next Met fashion blockbuster will honor controversial designer John Galliano
🥈 National Gallery security staff segregated like ‘second-class citizens’ says curator
🥉 2,500-year-old Celtic treasure stolen in another French museum heist

📊 Last week’s poll results:

Is the Met Museum right to host a retrospective on John Galliano?

Yes 27%
No 73% 🏆

🗳️ This week’s poll: