Mango Mania!
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Mango Mania!

Celebrate Summer with Magnolia Bakery. Magnolia Bakery adds some stunning sweetness to your summer with their limited edition of mouth-watering mango treats. Start the season on a sweet note with our special Mango Jamboree, a pecan studded shortbread crust with a cream cheese and whipped cream filling topped with delicious fresh mangoes. Delight your taste buds with their new Mango Lime cupcake – a coconut lime sponge filled with mango curd. Topped off with a meringue icing and coconut flakes, the mango lime cupcake is delightfully vibrant and refreshing. These delectable treats are available all through the month of May in limited quantities – make sure to order yours while supplies last! Just like all the desserts, the special mango desserts are hand-made and freshly baked daily. For: Mango Jamboree: INR 350 + Tax and Mango Lime Cupcake: INR 145 + Tax. Call: +91 9606746364 for pre-orders. Where: Magnolia Bakery India, No. 788, J.K. Plaza, 12th Main Rd, Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Mango Mania!

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Bring Home The Pump House Experience
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Bring Home The Pump House Experience

The Pump House, one of Bengaluru’s most loved breweries is back with your favourite brews for a limited period of time. They are offering takeaway service for their patrons who missed sipping their favourite pint on a sunny afternoon. So now you can bring the ‘The Pump House Experience’ at the comfort of your home. The beers are available in 1 litre cans so you can share the joy with friends and family or keep it all for yourself! The microbrewery has taken all the necessary safety and hygiene measures including social distancing at the time of take aways to ensure all round safety. Quench your thirst with as many as six beers available from tap i.e. Blonde, Wit, Hefe, Stout, IPA & oatmeal imperial IPA-an exciting variant although it has a high alcohol strength, this beer finishes smooth and is easy drinking. So head to The Pump House to grab your brew before the stock ends!! Where: The Pump House, JP Nagar, Bengaluru. When: 15th May to 30th May, 2020, 9 am to 7 pm. Price: INR 500 for a litre (INR 525 with the glass bottle). Call: 96061 28666 Bring Home The Pump House Experience

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Chinese Author’s Lockdown Diary in Wuhan
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Chinese Author’s Lockdown Diary in Wuhan

From one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak. HarperNonFiction has published Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City by well-known Chinese literary writer Fang Fang. The ebook has been published on 15th May with the audio to follow on 26th May. HarperNonFiction acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, the translator is Michael Berry. The book is a compilation of the author’s diary entries and social media posts that document 60 days of lockdown during the COVID-19 epidemic. On January 25, 2020, after the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, Fang Fang began publishing an online diary. In the days and weeks that followed, Fang Fang’s nightly postings gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbours and friends taken by the deadly virus. A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfolded, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts, and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals, and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan’s nine million residents. But, by claiming the writer´s duty to record, she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems that impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it. As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, we are able to identify patterns and mistakes that many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic have later repeated. She reminds us that, in the face of the new virus, the plight of the citizens of Wuhan is also that of citizens everywhere. As Fang Fang concludes in her introduction: “The virus is the common enemy of humankind; that is a lesson for all humanity. The only way we can conquer this virus and free ourselves from its grip is for all members of humankind to work together.” Blending the intimate and the epic, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of an extraordinary time. Fang writes in the introduction: “This is a book dedicated to the people of Wuhan. It is also a book for those people who came to Wuhan’s aid during this city’s darkest hour. All of my proceeds from this book will be used to aid those people who put their lives on the line for this city.” Wuhan Diary is to be translated into 15 languages. Chinese Author’s Lockdown Diary in Wuhan

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Phillip Island Penguin Parade goes global
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Phillip Island Penguin Parade goes global

Phillip Island’s Penguin Parade in Victoria, Australia has attracted the attention of one of the world’s best sports commentators who has turned their famous nightly walk home into a viral video sensation. Scottish BBC sport commentator Andrew Cotter became a worldwide internet sensation last month when his self-isolation and boredom at the lack of sport inspired a hilarious video of him narrating the antics of his labradors, Olive and Mabel, called ‘Game of Bones’. The video has now been viewed more than 30 million times on YouTube and social media. Now Andrew, whose voice is well known to fans of international golf, tennis and athletics, has narrated the antics of Phillip Island’s most famous residents as they waddle from the shoreline, across the sand dunes to arrive safely at home, in their burrows. Andrew says, “I knew all about the penguins of Phillip Island before this and have visited Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road or Mornington Peninsula every year for the past fifteen years. I love it all down there so this was a natural fit.” Phillip Island Nature Parks’ Chief Executive Catherine Basterfield said this was a wonderful way to share our amazing little penguins with the rest of the world. “The penguins are quite comfortable in front of an audience as they are used to doing their nightly waddle in front of visitors at the Penguin Parade, but this kind of global recognition goes above and beyond. The penguins never fail to entertain with their antics, and Andrew’s wonderful wit has captured this beautifully,” added Basterfield. Located just 90 minutes from Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, Phillip Island Nature Parks is a unique conservation organisation that operates a range of ecotourism experiences. The daily parade of little penguins draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe every year. Visitors line the observation boardwalks at Phillip Island Nature Park at dusk to see them race up Summerland Beach to their burrows. Phillip Island Nature Parks, including the world-famous Penguin Parade, are currently closed to tourists to help slow the spread of coronavirus, but the work continues behind the scenes to look after the animals and their habitat. Phillip Island Penguin Parade goes global

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Cameraman Only
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Cameraman Only

I used to love the smell of Prasad Labs in Chennai. It was the smell of the film negative emulsion being developed and printed. Images coming to life behind mysterious vaults where no common man was allowed. At the end of a long corridor upstairs there was a neon sign that said ‘Cameraman only’. This was a room for colour grading. The sacred space where the colours of a movie are tweaked, matched and enhanced. You leave your slippers outside and step in. I’ve gone in while working as an assistant cinematographer. Heart pounding, half out of anticipation, half because it felt like a privilege which I might mess up. Inside the dark room the Grader sat like Merlin with his glasses backlit by the grading machine, he would manually move the film spool slowly to see if the rushes needed to be brightened or darkened, conferring with the Cameraman on his side in whispers while we sat deeper in the shadows. One point brighter here, one point deeper there. Add one point red here for the skin tone, subtract some green here to correct the wayward colour temperature of a light fixture. Some warm, some cool. And then. Silence. Just the sound of the rotating handle, as we moved from frame to frame. The thick curtains sheltered us from the world and it felt like we were in one corner of the universe looking into a piece of history being created. Every movie is history, good or bad. In each frame lie the hard work of the crew, cast , the money of the producer and the future of the leading actors. I have waited many hours in the lab with the assistant cinematographer team, to be called to check prints which were getting ready to be released. We spent sleepless nights before the big Friday making sure intricate corrections in each reel were made across many prints , copy checking – which is basically quality control so that there are no errors before the large film cans with the final prints get carted off to the many theatres across the state, in the middle of the night. Once they leave the lab, their destiny is unknown. It’s for the audience to decide the next day. Hit or flop. Theatres have changed the mode of projection over the years, they now have digital projectors, not film. No film cans come to the theatre, a file is uploaded and a link clicked upon for the show to begin. It’s all digital. The mystery and romance of film labs is a thing of the past but all the nerves and excitement about the Friday release still remains for film makers. And Friday at the movies is still a big draw for the audiences. Despite all the different kinds of platforms available to them, there is still fanfare outside a theatre for the first day first show. Whistles echo and tickets are torn. And stars born. We as a race are story tellers and listeners. We like to be entertained. We began listening to stories around the fire outside our caves, we found ourselves one day inside a dark theatre watching a flickering screen, a story unfolded in front of us. We fell in love with the movies. And the love affair continues. The Covid Pandemic has changed our lives and social distancing and protecting ourselves may change the way we go to the movies forever. But whether its two seats away from another human or four , our eyes will still be glued to the screen soon. No mobile, tablet or TV screen will match the visceral cinematic experience of watching a movie in a theatre. Tip toeing in the dark, finding our seat and sitting down to be taken to another world. There may be no hand to hold but we will be led by the storytellers. By Preetha Jayaraman, award-winning cinematographer. Cameraman Only

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Unmute Violence
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Unmute Violence

Most of us stayed indoors for the last few weeks to protect ourselves, but for some women staying locked indoors meant putting themselves at greater risk. India’s lockdown saw a huge surge in domestic violence cases with the National Commission for Women (NCW) registering over 587 domestic violence complaints in just the first two weeks. The sudden demand to stay indoors found many vulnerable women stuck with their abuser behind closed doors. In an effort to combat the situation and provide relief to these victims, The Red Dot Initiative, started by WEFT (Women Entrepreneurs for Transformation) in collaboration with Mumbai based creative agency Thought Blurb launched an awareness campaign that would encourage people to reach out to the victims. With the thought-provoking ‘Unmute Domestic Violence’ campaign, this campaign gives everyone who’s watching a voice against the crime and a chance to save silent victims. The campaign also promotes WEFT’s Red Dot initiative, that has been was a game-changer in helping domestic violence victims ask for help, without putting their lives at risk. Iti Rawat, founder of WEFT says, “Red Dot Initiative was started on 30th March 2020 due to rising cases in Domestic Violence during the lockdown period and it’s a global malady. The UN states that most of the domestic violence cases go unreported- due to fear, threat or just societal pressures. This campaign conceptualised by thought blurb is hard hitting and makes the point very well. We ran it on all our social media channels and also through WhatsApp to all the support Groups. The results are encouraging. The calls for help have risen four-fold and that speaks volumes for its effectiveness.” Commenting on the campaign, Renu Somani, Executive Creative Director, thought blurb said, “We started with a simple truth – that victims don’t have a voice during this lockdown. But you and I do. And it’s up to us to make our voice carry. We used this thought as a metaphor to create a powerful film asking people to lend victims their voice, and their support.” The Red Dot Initiative has already been able to rescue numerous victims during this lockdown. The process started by connecting with local authorities and involving the National Commission for Women India (NCW). The initiative encourages victims to seek help by placing a red dot on their palm, as an alert to being a victim of domestic violence and in need of help. Once a case is reported to WEFT, the team reaches out and rescues the victim, provides counselling and psychological support. This is followed by a process of rehabilitation by helping them with a sustainable livelihood. Thought blurb is a highly specialized design and communication agency founded in 2007 by Vinod Kunj. Over the years they have gained acclaim for being the agency behind some memorable campaigns and brands, across the country. They are young, profitable agency with talent spanning the disciplines of design, films and digital communication. The agency has been feted for their work in identity, packaging design and ad films. Thought blurb’s core services include Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Space and Packaging Design, Advertising and Digital Communication. Their roster of clients over the years include Reliance Industries, Reliance Digital, Parle Group – Parle –G, Parle Milk Shakti, Parle Nutricrunch, Parle Magix, Intermiles, Tata Housing, Tata Communications, Godrej, Sheth Group, Bajaj Finserv, Lulu Mall, Synthite Group, Viviana Mall, ICICI Lombard, Viacom 18, Baskin Robbins, Morarka Organic, to name a few. Unmute Violence

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Turn lockdown into a party
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Turn lockdown into a party

In these unprecedented times, THE Park Hotels, is virtually bringing alive the energy and vibe of India’s most happening nightclubs and liveliest bars. THE Park Hotels known for ruling India’s nightlife and entertainment business since more than 50 years, has started LIVE entertainment for its guests and patrons sitting at home during the extended lockdown. As people are now losing the count on days, THE Park Aqua Sunset has been released last month to set the weekend mood right. THE Park Aqua Sunset is a mixtape series releasing every Sunday at 5 PM on MixCloud and SoundCloud. A specially curated tracklist of a music extraordinaire is introduced every week. The genres range from electronica, downtempo, chillout, house, and world music – by the finest artist collective line-up from across the country. It brings the oomph of the crazy pool parties from the signature alfresco poolside Aqua at THE Park. Swarup Varma, VRIDIAN and Abhi Meer have released their curated tracklists till now. Celebrated artists including Xirer, Aaryan, Stalvart John, and Praveen Achary are going to play in the weeks to come. The artists are well-known, home-grown and heavyweight electronic music producers with a knack of musical diversity. The first tracklist by Swarup Varma organically made it to the ‘Top 3 track list in India for Chillout category on MixCloud. Tune in to these channels every Sunday at 5 PM for your weekend sunset party like never before at your home: MixCloud – https://www.mixcloud.com/THEParkHotels/ SoundCloud – https://soundcloud.com/theparkhotels To bring the heady atmosphere, passionate live performances and bags of rock ‘n’ roll attitude, the iconic Someplace Else from THE Park Kolkata is going LIVE every day at 8 PM on its Facebook page with India’s most celebrated musicians and artists. Someplace Else which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary has been engaging with artists to spark up these grim times through live virtual sessions. Till now Behram Siganporia from Best Kept Secret, Salman & Zaman, Abha Hanjura, Wagah Road, Nilayan, Adil Rashid (Underground Authority), Kamran and Kolkata’s favourite Kaustav Banerjee have performed. The live sessions have recorded more than 3,60,000 viewers for 35 artists and have received rave reviews from the music revellers for this initiative. The number of followers have been rapidly increasing on the Facebook page and the viewer’s look forward to these sessions every day at 8 PM. Few artists to look forward to in the coming days are Khurshid (Karaoke World Champion India in 2011), Bubbles from Chicago, Astitva, Abhishek Gurung (Gingerfeet), Faridkot, and many more. Join in the LIVE session every day at 8 PM via https://www.facebook.com/someplaceelsethepark/ Speaking on these initiatives, Ruchika Mehta, Corporate Director- Communications & PR said, “While we continue to do our community initiatives, we also realize that people are getting jaded sitting at home in this extended lockdown and are looking for things to bring in cheer and positivity. We at THE Park are known for our nightlife and F&B offerings, therefore have introduced these LIVE sessions with musicians and celebrated artists. We have been receiving overwhelming response till now. And the teams are set to continue the LIVE entertainment for the days to come.” [envira-gallery id=”9211″] Turn lockdown into a party

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Demand for Sanitizers on the Rise
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Demand for Sanitizers on the Rise

The New World and Opportunities Post Coronavirus study highlights major shifts in the FMCG industry during the pandemic and what brands must watch out for. Sacheerome, India’s leading fragrances and flavours manufacturer, has released an insightful study called The New World and Opportunities Post Coronavirus. The findings are an outcome of the brand’s collaboration with renowned market research agencies including Mintel, Euromonitor, McKinsey, and Ipsos, among others. The report provides insights on the strategic shifts the FMCG industry will face in the coming months and how clients can move into opportunities first. The global pandemic has led to a change in the attitudes of consumers around the world. The report is divided into various categories including Home, Surface, Fabric, and Personal Care. It indicates that there is a steady growth in the launches of products with ‘clean’ claims. About 81% of consumers in West India have used hand sanitizers more than before compared to 67% in North India. There is also high usage of hygiene products among the older age groups. In April 2020 alone, there were 2.2 million searches for hand sanitiser, which is a year-over-year increase of 29X. Speaking about this, Divya Arora, Director Innovation & Strategy, Sacheerome, said, “The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a drastic shift in consumption patterns which will have a major impact on the future scenarios. The study looks at some of these trends and marks key action points for brands in the post-Covid19 era. Transformations within businesses and society take place during turbulent times that are ground-breaking and spark them towards a new land of challenges and opportunities. The FMCG segment is looking closely at the new consumer behaviours to effectively adapt and improvise at a never-before pace. We are proud to partner with some of the leading names in the market research industry for the study and hope that the insights will help businesses plan their future strategies better.” FMCG companies are using differentiation in fragrance as a key selling proposition to attract consumers. The focus is on Citrus-y and Green fragrance notes in the times of COVID to impart a ‘clean’ association through their products. There is an increased affinity towards using traditional and natural fragrances and ayurvedic ingredients that provide holistic wellness, an area where Sacheerome has been doing research and developments for decades. There is also a demand for perfumery ingredients that have disinfectant, anti-bacterial, and anti-microbial properties, across categories. Unlike many other categories, home care has responded well to lockdown. The industry continued a solid global performance growing 5% in current value terms in 2018/19 reporting$159 billion in sales. Products such as liquid soap with disinfectant and hand sanitizers are observed to have experienced a dramatic boost in sales as consumers’ self-protection awareness has increased rapidly since the COVID outbreak. People will go forward to adopt a new normal and get back to basics focusing on a minimalistic approach. There has been increased digital engagement and home has become the new universe for now with a focus on cleanliness, self, and surrounding. Overall, the findings show how there is an increased need for quality assurance, affordability, accessibility, and convenience. Considering this, FMCG companies are undertaking product development, market testing and launches faster than ever before. The usual timeline of few months has come down to a few weeks in some cases in order to tap into to changing consumer needs. The world is changing more rapidly than ever, and consumer preferences will continue to shape with the time to come. The report highlights how businesses will need to key an eye out for these and be better prepared for future risks. The key takeaways for brands include focus safe and hygiene products, wellness, and fast-innovation. Demand for Sanitizers on the Rise

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Healthy Tourism Certification for Turkey
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Healthy Tourism Certification for Turkey

Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Republic of Turkey has initiated Healthy Tourism Certification program, which shall be applicable as of summer season of 2020. Healthy Tourism Certification, which is issued under the leadership of Ministry of Culture and Tourism and with the participation of Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in cooperation of all sector stakeholders, covers a broad range of measures which shall be taken towards transportation, accommodation, health condition of employees of the facilities and passengers. This certificate, which shall be granted by international certification institutions, will document the fulfilment of high level of health and hygiene requirements at airline companies, airports and other transportation, accommodation and food & beverage facilities. Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Republic of Turkey has launched its Healthy Tourism Certification Program. The program, which will be applicable as of summer season of 2020 includes a broad range of measures for transportation, accommodation, health condition of employees for facilities and passengers. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Republic of Turkey, has made the following statement with respect to the certification program that will be obtained from international certification institutions: “Turkey has been role model for the world during Covid 19 with its well-established health system and treatment methods that has been taken. This certificate program demonstrates that Turkey will take a pioneering role in terms of setting the direction for the normalisation of tourism. Today, global quarantine measures, which have been taken due to Covid-19, causing unique developments all around the world, are getting more flexible and tourism sector itself has a vital role in terms of returning to normal processes. The importance of caring our guests in our culture, leads us to be ready for the transition to healthy tourism prior to everyone. Our certification program shall ensure that our guests in Turkey are going to make their holidays in a safe and hygienic manner and feel comfortable during their visit. Our program covers preventive and protective steps including air, marine and land transportation, arrival ports, all facilities providing a holiday experience, health condition of employees in the industry and tourists themselves. We will encourage all of our transportation and accommodation facilities to take all precautions for a healthy holiday through obtaining the certificate.” Healthy Tourism Certification program consists of four main pillars. Certification program of Turkey consists of 4 main pillars which are “Health and Safety of the Passenger”, “Health and Safety of the Employee”, “Precautions taken at Facilities” and “Precautions taken in terms of “Transportation”. “Health and Safety of the Passenger”; covers the precautions which are required to be implemented in terms of passengers from the time of check-in until their check-out. It includes; not allowing passengers without mask to enter respective terminals, providing free of charge masks to passengers, application of thermal camera and body temperature measurement at the entrance of terminal buildings, preparing disinfection carpets and disinfection cabins, if required, apply the required protocols for the passengers that are diagnosed as risk group in terms of travelling. “Health and Safety of the Employee”; covers precautions with respect to ensuring physically and mentally healthy personnel at transportation, accommodation and food & beverage facilities. Procedures such as hygiene and sanitation trainings of the personnel, psychological support, providing required hygiene/health equipment, controlling of the personnel both with thermal cameras are required standards and also thermometers and planning shifts, holding meetings and regular health checks of personnel etc. comprise other articles included under this title. “Precautions taken at Facilities”, covers steps which required to be taken in order to prevent spreading of the outbreak. In case of preventing such cases, processes that needs to be implemented by the accommodation, food & beverage facilities have been defined under the scope of the certificate. Certification ensures implementation and controlling of measures such as social distance, contact, isolation which are required to control the spread of pandemic within the personnel working at such facilities. “Precautions taken in terms of Transportation vehicles”, includes certain measures and regulations for air, land and marine transportation. Training of personnel of transportation vehicles, immunity certificate of the personnel, sterilisation of transportation vehicles and arrangement of passenger transportation system according to safe distance standards has been defined under the scope of the certificate. Minister Ersoy emphasised the sensitivity and importance demonstrated in this subject through making the following statement regarding certificate program and dates in terms of normalizing process subsequent to Covid-19: “We have completed pandemic protocols and certification protocols issued separately in terms of airports, domestic airlines, highways and tourism facilities as of May 4, 2020. We are also planning to start implementation of the certification process for hotels as of May. We will start listing the facilities, obtaining such certificate, as of June 1, 2020 through all channels including website of our Ministry. We, as Republic of Turkey, are acting with sense of responsibility in order to ensure both our citizens and our guests, arriving to our country, to feel comfortable during their visit. There is a proverb stating the hospitality of Turkish people: “Latch string is always out!” (You are more than welcome). We have always take this as leading principle and we will continue to take necessary actions based on this principle’’ Healthy Tourism Certification for Turkey

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Take a Virtual Tour on International Museum Day
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Take a Virtual Tour on International Museum Day

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when people are sheltering in place at home, many museums and art galleries around the world are providing virtual tours to give people a creative way to stay entertained and learn something too. In honour of International Museum Day, don’t miss virtual tours of these iconic museums located in the United States which are sure to transport you to a whole new world. Happy museum hopping! Metropolitan Museum of Art –New York City, New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art, commonly known as the Met, is one of the most famous art museums in the world. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection includes nearly two million works of art spanning 5,000 years. In the Met you will get to see the incredible Temple of Dendur which has been on display for an impressive 50 years. Museum of Fine Arts –Boston, Massachusetts The Museum of Fine Arts which was first opened in 1876 contains more than 450,000 works of magnificent art. From master works of the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Ancient World, to textiles, fashion and jewellery, you will find all kinds of art here. Here you can also view great art by John Singer Sargent, Thomas Sully, and John Singleton Copley. Detroit Institute of Arts –Detroit, Michigan The Detroit Institute of Arts is a cultural gem that includes more than 100 galleries. The museum’s exhibits span from prehistory through the 21st century. Two of the most notable acquisitions of this museum are Mexican artist Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry Murals and Vincent van Gogh’s Self Portrait, the first of his paintings to be included in a U.S. museum collection. The Art Institute of Chicago –Chicago, Illinois The Art Institute of Chicago is a world-renowned museum showcasing iconic works of art.  Hailed as one of the oldest and largest museums in the USA, the Art Institute impresses with nearly 100,000 square meters to explore. The Art Institute features a notable collection of art and artefacts spanning 5,000 BC to the present. American Museum of Natural History – New York City, New York The American Museum of Natural History, which has appeared in several Hollywood movies, boasts a 94-foot blue whale, dinosaur halls, and world-famous dioramas. Take a Virtual Tour on International Museum Day

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