‘Sad news: MOBIA to close’

     
Sad news announced this afternoon by the Museum of Biblical Art:

Museum of Biblical Art Board of Trustees

Announces Closure of Museum

It is with great sadness that the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Biblical Art announces that the Museum will close to the public on Sunday, June 14, 2015 and cease operations on June 30, 2015. MOBIA will not reopen in a new location. The Museum’s current exhibition, “Sculpture in the Age of Donatello,” will remain on view for its scheduled run through Sunday, June 14, 2015.

MOBIA had its origins as an art gallery founded in 1997 by the American Bible Society; the gallery opened in 1998 in the ABS building at 1865 Broadway, New York. In 2004, MOBIA became an independent art museum. MOBIA opened to the public in 2005, remaining on the second floor of ABS’s New York headquarters and continuing to receive significant in-kind and financial support from ABS. ABS sold its New York building in February of this year and will relocate to Philadelphia. With the building sale, MOBIA was required to find a new home. The Museum explored multiple options for a new site and potential partners with whom to collaborate. It was ultimately impossible in such a short timeframe to raise the funds needed for the increased operating budget necessitated by leasing and renovating a new site.

The Museum of Biblical Art, an independent non-profit arts institution, has as its mission examining the Bible’s influence on the Western visual tradition, and on artists from the historical past to the present day. The Museum has taken a secular perspective on the Bible’s pivotal role in art history, looking at how this text impacts artistic practice in both familiar and surprising ways. MOBIA has been committed to being inclusive and non-sectarian, inviting visitors of all beliefs and viewpoints to participate in its programs and engage with ideas at the intersection of a range of disciplines-from aesthetics to cultural history to religious studies.

MOBIA is located between Columbus Circle and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at 1865 Broadway. For more information on MOBIA and its programs prior to the conclusion of the “Sculpture in the Age of Donatello” exhibition and the Museum’s closing, click here.


It seems like all the places in New York City I love are disappearing.