[MSN] Owensboro art museum reopens three years after fire

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Owensboro art museum reopens three years after fire
 
 
OWENSBORO, Ky. -- An art museum that suffered more than $2 million in
damages from a fire nearly three years ago is set to reopen in Owensboro.


A five-week grand reopening is slated to begin June 3 with a reception at
the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. Special exhibitions and workshops are also
planned for the reopening.

"It was the huge generosity of the community that enabled the museum to
survive," director Mary Bryan Hood said.

Art conservators last week returned the remaining 1,500 pieces that had been
restored after the fire.

Visitors will get a chance see a bronze sculpture by impressionist painter
and sculptor Edgar Degas, which is the cornerstone of the museum's permanent
collection.

Hood locked the sculpture in the trunk of her car during the fire. She said
the sculpture had also escaped disaster during the Nazi occupation of Europe
when a Jewish family buried it in an African desert.

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Information from: Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer,
http://www.messenger-inquirer.com