The Palace of Westminster is at risk of ‘a catastrophic event’ if the building’s restoration is further delayed, the Public Accounts Committee said on 4 November. Refurbishment of the Grade I-listed palace has been repeatedly delayed because of disagreements over costs, relocation venues and how the project should be carried out. This, according to a new report issued by the Public Accounts Committee, has cost an enormous amount: the weekly maintenance bill – which is spent on problems such as crumbling masonry, leaks and 24-hour fire patrols – is expected to grow from £1.5m to £2m, with each year of inaction adding £420m to long-term costs. The committee has asked MPs to opt for either a full exit of the building while the project is carried out – expected to take up to 24 years and cost up to £15.6bn – or a more gradual ‘decant’, which could take 61 years and cost up to £39.2bn. MPs have been urged to approve the ‘Phase One’ plan, which involves a £3bn spend on essential works over the next seven years, and to set up a new plan to ensure a final decision is made by mid 2030.
A federal judge has blocked the construction of President Trump’s triumphal arch for two weeks, the New York Times reports. The National Capital Planning Commission – a body made up of several Trump appointees – had approved construction on the 75-metre arch to begin as soon as 6 November. However, federal judge Tanya S. Chutkan – responding to lawsuits brought by a veterans group and by the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia to stop the project – ruled on 5 November that construction be delayed while legal challenges to the project proceed through the courts.
The Museo Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá has reinstalled the 63 objects that the government removed from the museum’s galleries last month for their ties to social movements, the Art Newspaper reports. After the country’s president Abelardo de la Espriella declared a ‘fight against wokeism’ on 15 October, the secretary general of the cultural ministry ordered the removal of several objects, including a Pride flag belonging to the activist Elizabeth Castillo and a poster from 1989 denouncing violence against women. Hundreds demonstrated outside the museum in reaction and, on 28 October, judge César Enrique Osorio Ortiz ordered that the works be reinstated within 48 hours and told both the museum and ministry of culture not to remove works based on the views they represent.
Daniel Sikkema has been sentenced to life in prison for organising the murder of his husband, the art dealer Brent Sikkema, ARTnews reports. The pair were going through divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their son when the 75-year-old founder of the New York gallery formerly known as Sikkema Jenkins & Co was founded murdered in his apartment in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024. In February 2025 Daniel Sikkema was charged in Manhattan with murder-for-hire, passport fraud and conspiracy to murder a person in a foreign country. He was convicted in May of this year.
The former chief operating officer of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from the institution. The Art Newspaper reports that, according to federal prosecutors, Brady Lum embezzled funds from the High using doctored invoices and other means between 2019 and 2025, and used the money to pay for high-end guitars, music lessons and other personal purchases. As part of a plea deal, Lum paid full restitution of some $600,000 to the museum, plus $500,000 to cover the costs the museum incurred investigating his criminal activity.
Guillaume Cerutti has been appointed president of the Palace of Versailles, the French ministry of culture announced on 4 November. The role has been vacant since the chateau’s former president, Christophe Leribault, took over from Laurence des Cars as director and president of the Musée du Louvre in February. Cerutti was CEO of Sotheby’s France from 2007–11 and global managing director of Christie’s from 2017–25; most recently he was president of the Pinault Collection, but held the position for only 13 months before suddenly stepping down in March. Jean-Jacques Aillagon, president of Versailles between 2007 and 2011, said Cerutti had ‘all the experience and qualities required’ for his new role, which he begins on 9 November.
