Children’s museum to close for repairs

Children’s museum to close for repairs

CINCINNATI

A Cincinnati museum will be closed through the spring of 2018 due to ongoing repairs.

The Cincinnati Museum Center has announced its Duke Energy Children’s Museum will remain closed amid the $212.7 million renovations at Union Terminal. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the work is the first structural restoration done in the building’s 84-year history.

Work began in summer 2016 to repair stone and brick exteriors, and upgrade the electrical and plumbing systems.

Organizers had previously planned to keep the children’s museum open, but then concluded it had to close due to extensive water damage in front of the building. Officials say that won’t impact the overall budget or timeline.

Museum explores historical, Hollywood versions of Casablanca

NATICK, Mass.

A Boston-area war museum is contrasting the reality of America’s entry into World War II with the iconic wartime film “Casablanca.”

“The Real and Reel Casablanca” launched Nov. 8 at the International Museum of World War II in Natick and runs through February.

The special exhibit opened on the 75th anniversary of “Operation Torch,” when Allied forces invaded French North Africa from the Moroccan port city of Casablanca in 1942.

Among the 75 artifacts on display are General George Patton’s invasion map and General Dwight Eisenhower’s decoded message to attack. It reads: “PLAY BALL.”

Objects from the 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman include original movie posters and a chair from Rick’s Cafi, the club where some of the movie’s key scenes take place.

New findings about Kansas City mummies

KANSAS CITY, MO.

Two mummies owned by the Kansas City Museum have new stories to tell after CT scans revealed information about their background for the first time in centuries.

The mummies will now join the “Mummies of the World” traveling exhibit to tour for the next few years, the Kansas City Star reported.

CT scan results recently identified the mummies as a man and a woman, both in their 20s, who lived and died about 650 years ago in the Andes highlands near Lake Titicaca in South America. The scans were initially conducted at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City in September.

The Kansas City Museum obtained the mummies from a businessman who purchased them in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1921. The mummies were originally placed in organic baskets, which identify them as from the Aymara culture. They’re being renamed Runa and Warmi, which mean “man” and “woman” in the Aymara language.

Marvel exhibit to premiere in Seattle

SEATTLe

“Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes” will feature more than 300 original artifacts, including some of Marvel’s most iconic and sought-after pages, costumes and props, many of which have never-before been seen by the public. These will be displayed in a major retrospective at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, opening April 21.

The exhibit will tell the Marvel story through comics, film and other media, taking place as it celebrates 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and ahead of the 80th anniversary in 2019.

The exhibit will trace the story of the company and its influence on visual culture and also will honor so-called “imaginauts” such as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who have made the Marvel saga one of the most expansive fictional universes ever created.

Combined dispatches