Thursday's Art Notes

_Israeli archaeologist Boaz Zissu inspects writings on a 2,000-year-old ossuary at the Rockefeller Museum located in east Jerusalem on June 30, 2011. According to Dr. Zissu and his team of archaeologists, ossuaries are small stone chests used for secondary burial of bones; they were quite common in the region from the late first century BCE until the beginning of the second century CE. The front of the ossuary that was found is decorated with a stylized floral motif and a long Aramaic inscription engraved in Jewish script. Photo by Menahem Kahana/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * Designs by Renzo Piano for a major new cultural center in Athens were released the midst of its major financial crisis, via "The New York Times' Arts Beat":http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/design-for-athens-cultural-center-unveiled-amid-debt-crisis/. The building will be paid for by a foundation, but the center's operation is supposed to be paid for by the Greek government. * A move by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to completely eliminate the state's arts commission was defeated by the South Carolina House of Representatives, via "Forbes":http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/06/30/business-industrials-us-sc-state-budget-vetoes-south-carolina_8543422.html. * The Louvre will not loan the Mona Lisa to Italy for an exhibition in 2013, via "The Art Newspaper":http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Non!+Mona+Lisa+ne+voyage+pas/24043. * Maine's Lobster Museum in Bar Harbor burned down on Wednesday, via the "Bangor Daily News":http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/6f8d0051c1c74c378ef3d36ee51d2021/ME--Lobster-Museum-Fire/.