In an era when many countries are putting up border walls and barbed wire fences, the International Architecture Exhibition in Venice aims to showcase a “sense of humanity” through its displays, organisers said ahead of its opening Saturday. The world’s most prestigious architecture festival — which is part of the Venice Biennale — has chosen the title “Freespace” for its 16th edition in the picturesque Italian city. “The architect’s creativity must be at the service of the community,” Irish architect Shelley McNamara — who curated the vast exhibition with colleague Yvonne Farrell — told AFP. McNamara said “Freespace” aims to highlight collective spaces, “generosity of spirit” and the “sense of humanity” that architecture must place at the heart of its agenda. Sixty-five different countries and one hundred architecture studios have been invited to display their interpretation of the theme in the vast 3000 square metre Venetian Arsenal and gardens.

In 2017 a rare Roman sarcophagus was excavated from Harper Road in Southwark; a site that archaeological research has shown was part of a large Roman cemetery. Today, the Museum of London Docklands reveals that this remarkable discovery will be on display for the first time in a major new exhibition, Roman Dead, which opens on 25th May 2018. London’s complex Roman burial landscape is an important source of historical knowledge, providing insight into Romans’ religious beliefs and their treatment of the dead. This new exhibition will investigate the cemeteries of ancient London, examining the discoveries that were made there and their context within today’s modern cityscape. Exotic grave goods from across the Roman Empire are just some of over 200 objects on display. Highlighted are an expensive multi-coloured glass dish found with cremated remains and a jet pendant in

One of the only Korans ever made from silk fabric has been completed in Afghanistan — a feat its creators hope will help preserve the country’s centuries-old tradition of calligraphy. Each of the Islamic holy book’s 610 pages was produced by hand in a painstaking process that took a team of 38 calligraphers and artists specialising in miniatures nearly two years to finish. Bound in goat leather and weighing 8.6 kilograms (19 pounds), the Koran was produced by Afghan artisans, many of them trained at British foundation Turquoise Mountain in Kabul. “Our intention was to ensure that calligraphy does not die out in this country — writing is part of our culture,” Khwaja Qamaruddin Chishti, a 66-year-old master calligrapher, told AFP in a cramped office inside Turquoise Mountain’s labyrinthine mud-brick and wood-panelled complex. With the Koran considered a sacred text, calligraphy is highly venerated in Islam and Islamic art.