On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India dismissed objections to the construction of
a new parliament complex in New Delhi. The plans, announced by the prime minister Narendra Modi in 2019, include the building of a new triangular parliament building and the altering and demolition of some structures. The construction of new buildings along the Central Vista, intended to be complete by India’s 75th anniversary of Independence in August 2022, is regarded by many as the deliberate destruction of Herbert Baker and Edwin Lutyens’ scheme for a new seat of government, replacing the capital in Calcutta, and completed in 1931.
anti-money laundering provisions in the Bank Secrecy Act to antiquities dealers. The new measures require that businesses disclose shareholders with a more than 25 per cent stake to a new federal registry maintained by the US Treasury department. The requirement will in effect end purchases through anonymous shell companies.
The Doge s Palace is the most popular and profitable of Venice s civic museums Photo: Denys Barabanov
The decision by Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, to extend the closure of the city s 11 civic museums including the Doge’s Palace, the Museo Correr, Ca’ Rezzonico, Ca’ Pesaro and Palazzo Fortuny until 1 April, the beginning of the tourist season, has provoked a culture war in Venice and beyond. Italy s museums have been closed since 5 November under national government restrictions, which are currently due to lift on 15 January.
A petition calling on Brugnaro to reverse course, published by the online Venetian newspaper
Ytali, has gathered 3,000 signatures, including those of leading art-world figures such as Vittorio Sgarbi and Salvatore Settis, the author of