BRUSSELS – Museums are starting to reopen in some countries as governments ease coronavirus restrictions, but experts warn one in eight worldwide could face permanent closure due to the pandemic.
Studies by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums show 90% of the planet's museums, some 85,000 institutions, have had to shut at least temporarily. “It is alarming data that we are giving,” Ernesto Ottone, Assistant Director General for Culture at UNESCO said in an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday.
He said the problem cuts across the board, affecting museums big and small, new and established, featuring art or science. Museums that indicated they might well not reopen, he said, “have been closed for months and they have no