visit the dawnstar museum

• Visit the Museum in Dawnstar
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• 2 Walkthrough
• 5 Appearances

Objectives [ ]

Walkthrough [ ].

Once the Dragonborn has reached level 20, a courier will deliver a note inviting them to travel to Dawnstar to see the new museum. Silus Vesuius is waiting outside. Upon approach, he and Dawnstar's court wizard, Madena, are arguing.

Madena: "Your ancestors wouldn't want this, Silus!" Silus: "Why should I hide from it? This is my family's legacy!" Madena: "It's the past! Dead oaths on dead lips. Let it stay there." Silus: "The museum is opening, Madena."

After the heated conversation ends, he then invites the Dragonborn to come inside and talk further about the Daedric Cult , the Mythic Dawn . Once inside, Vesuius gives a short tour of several display cases and the option opens up for the quest " Pieces of the Past ", in which the pieces of Mehrunes' Razor must be collected.

Journal [ ]

• The building is located near the bay and the closest building to the Dawnstar Sanctuary .

Appearances [ ]

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Elder Scrolls
• 1 Marriage (Skyrim)
• 2 Console Commands (Skyrim)
• 3 Trainers (Skyrim)

• PlayStation 3
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Pieces Of The Past

The elder scrolls v: skyrim special edition  — guide and walkthrough (ps4).

Guide and Walkthrough (PS4) by SENIORBILL

Version: 1.5 | Updated: 06/18/2018

• Previous: The Only Cure

Table of Contents

• Next: A Taste Of Death
• Game Basics
• Skyrim Main Missions
• Before the Storm
• Bleak Falls Barrow
• Dragon Rising
• The Way of the Voice
• The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
• A Blade in the Dark
• Diplomatic Immunity
• A Cornered Rat
• Alduin's Wall
• The Throat of the World
• Elder Knowledge
• Alduin's Bane
• Season Unending
• Paarthurnax
• The World-Eaters Eyrie
• Dragonslayer
• The College of Winterhold Missions
• First Lessons
• Under Saarthal
• Hitting the Books
• Good Intentions
• Revealing the Unseen
• Containment
• The Staff of Magnus
• The Eye of Magnus
• College of Winterhold Side Missions
• The Dark Brotherhood Missions
• Innocence Lost
• With Friends Like These
• Mourning Never Comes
• Whispers in the Dark
• The Silence Has Been Broken
• Bound Until Death
• Breaching Security
• The Cure For Madness
• Recipe for Disaster
• To Kill an Empire
• Death Incarnate
• Hail Sithis
• The Dark Brotherhood Side Missions
• Contracts: Narfi; Beitild; Ennodius Papius
• Contracts: Lurbuk; Hern
• Contracts: Anoriath; Deekus; Ma'randru-jo
• Contract: Agnis
• Contracts: Helvard; Maluril
• Contract: Safia
• The Feeble Fortune
• The Thieves Guild Missions
• A Chance Arrangement
• Taking Care of Business
• Loud and Clear
• Dampened Spirits
• Scoundrel's Folly
• Speaking With Silence
• Hard Answers
• The Pursuit
• Trinity Restored
• Blindsighted
• Darkness Returns
• The Thieves Guild Side Missions
• The Companions Missions
• Take Up Arms
• Proving Honor
• The Silver Hand
• Blood's Honor
• Purity of Revenge
• Glory of the Dead
• The Companions Side Missions
• The Bard's College Missions
• Tending the Flames
• Rjorn's Drum
• Finn's Lute
• Pantea's Flute
• Civil War: Stormcloaks
• Joining the Stormcloaks
• The Jagged Crown
• Message to Whiterun
• Battle for Whiterun
• Liberation of Skyrim: Fort Neugrad
• Liberation of Skyrim: Compelling Tribute
• Liberation of Skyrim: The Battle for Fort Sungard
• Liberation of Skyrim: A False Front
• Liberation of Skyrim: The Battle for Fort Snowhawk
• Liberation: Battle for Fort Hraggstad
• Liberation of Skyrim: The Battle for Solitude
• Civil War: Imperials
• Joining the Legion
• The Jagged Crown: Imperials
• Message to Whiterun: Imperials
• Defense of Whiterun
• Reunification of Skyrim: A False Front
• Reunification: Battle for Fort Dunstad
• Reunification: Compelling Tribute
• Reunification: Battle for Fort Greenwall
• Reunification: Rescue from Fort Kastav
• Reunification: Battle for Fort Amol
• Reunification: Battle for Windhelm
• A New Order
• Seeking Disclosure
• Chasing Echoes
• Beyond Death
• Unseen Visions
• Touching the Sky
• Inner Sanctum
• Kindred Judgement
• Dawnguard Side Missions
• The Temple of Miraak
• Fate of the Skrall
• Cleansing the Stones
• The Path of Knowledge
• The Gardener of Men
• At the Summit of Apocrypha
• Dragonborn Side Missions
• Unearthed: Black Book Mission
• Reluctant Servant: Black Book Mission
• Lost Knowledge 1: Black Book Mission
• Lost Knowledge 2: Black Book Mission
• The Final Descent: Black Book Mission
• March of the Dead
• A New Source of Stahlrim
• Lost Legacy
• The Chief of Thirsk Hall
• Retaking Thirsk
• Skyrim Side Missions
• Blood on the Ice
• Forbidden Legend
• The Forsworn Conspiracy
• No One Escapes Cidna Mine
• Infiltration
• In My Time of Need
• Kyne's Sacred Trials
• Laid to Rest
• Lost to the Ages
• The Man Who Cried Wolf
• The Wolf Queens Awakens
• Missing In Action
• Promises to Keep
• Rise In The East
• Rising at Dawn
• Unfathomable Depths
• The White Phial
• Repairing the Phial

Daedric Missions

• The Black Star
• Boethiah's Calling
• The Break of Dawn
• The Cursed Tribe
• A Daedra's Best Friend
• Discerning The Transmundane
• The House of Horrors
• Ill Met By Moonlight
• The Mind Of Madness
• A Night to Remember
• The Only Cure
• A Taste Of Death
• Waking Nightmare
• Exploration Missions
• Ancestral Worship
• Angarvunde: Madresi Dran's Treasure
• Angi's Camp
• Evil In Waiting
• Forgetting About Fjiola
• The Hunter and The Hunted
• Find Red Eagle's Sword
• The Lost Expedition
• Melka And Petra
• Otar The Mad
• The Pale Lady
• A Scroll For Anska
• Siege Of The Dragon Cult
• Silenced Tongues
• What Lies Beneath
• Wilhelm's Specter
• The Masks Of The Dragon Priests

Pieces of the Past (Mehrunes Dagon)

Once you reach level 20 a courier will deliver an invitation to visit the museum in Dawnstar. Journey to the museum and speak to Silas Vesuius , the curator, to activate the mission. He requests your aid in the recovery of three long-lost fragments of a Dagon artifact called Mehrunes Razor , and he will pay handsomely for their recovery. The locations of the artifact's hilt, pommel and blade shards will be indicated by three markers on the map.

The pommel is located at the marker west of Markarth . Reaching the remote site requires skirting the mountains west of Markarth . Start east on the cobblestone road from Markarth Stables , going clockwise around the mountain, veering south and going west on the dirt trail near the three large trees. This route will traverse rough terrain as you head for the marker. This will lead to Hag Rock Redoubt where hostile Forsworn will challenge your way through the scattered ruins as you approach the marker at Hag Rock Redoubt Ruins .

Enter the ruins and, advance silently and kill the two Forsworn seated in the well-lit dining room. You'll find an adept chest in a gloomy niche and a Sneak Skill Book called 2920 Last Seed, v8 on the table. Go stealthily up the wooden stairwell and you can probably sneak attack the Forsworn seated in the cell block. Take the Hag Rock Ruin Jail Key from the shelf and continue north in the winding passage and go through the wooden doorway. Sneak attack the lone Braveheart who will be busy at the Alchemy Lab . Raid the big treasure chest.

Move into the gloomy west passage which has a chest with a spear bobby trap activated by an apprentice trigger . Take the adjacent passage, go up the stairs and head through the iron door and then go up the stairs to Skyrim . There will be a Forsworn archer or two, a Braveheart and either a Troll or a Frostbite Spider to address outside. Go up the stairs, raid the chest in the hut and continue up the long grade toward the marker to the entrance of Dead Crone Rock .

Enter the ruins and raid the ingredients on the table. Go up the stairs, raid the chest and the urns in the niche and sneak attack the Forsworn seated in the light at the end of the passage. Sneak up the west stairs and kill the seated Forsworn. A Forsworn mage will be in the dining room unless he was alerted by the demise of his comrade. Continue into the dining room and locate and neutralize the Flame Soul Gem in the niche to the right of the dining table. There is a chest to raid on the opposite wall.

Beware of the fire floor trap in the dark passage beyond, which leads to a small chamber where you'll find a lever . Use the lever to retract the portcullis visible through the gap in the wall. Take the Alchemy Skill Book called A Game At Dinner near the lever . Backtrack to the dining room, going past that fire floor trap and into the small circular chamber and then into the south passage. Climb the stairs, going toward the marker, go up the stairs and through the door to Skyrim .

The Hagraven Drascua has a marker and she will attack with flames. Her lair is also protected by three Flame Soul Gems on pedestals. Kill the Hagraven and neutralize the Soul Gems . She will have the pommel stone of Mehrunes Razor among her loot. Raid the big treasure chest and the items on the altar, which includes an Unusual Gem. The Word Wall has a Word of Fear, Dismay .

The marker for the Blade Shards is at Cracked Tusk Keep , which is located west of Falkreath and the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. Approach the fort stealthily and kill the four Orcs defending the site. There is a Light Armor Skill Book called Light Armor Forging near the smithing area.

Enter the keep and kill the bandit just inside. A second bandit will be on the upper level. Continue through the wooden door toward the marker and kill the tough Ghunzul in his living quarters. Search his corpse to obtain the Cracked Tusk Vault Key . Raid the big treasure chest.

Head down to ground level, go through the wooden door and then down into the subterranean area. Use Ghunzel's Key on the expert wall panel to expose a button that will retract the bars. Enter the vault where the wall buttons open the cells. The north cell has a Light Armor Skill Book called Rislav the Righteous lying on bench.

The two levers each retract a set of bars, enabling access to the vault. Avoid or trip the poison dart tripwires and be aware of the spiked gate floor trap if you go into the left passage to avoid them. The Blade Shards sit on a pedestal. Taking them from the pressure plate will also release a volley of poison darts , so stand aside when retrieving the Shards. There is an adept chest to raid near the south wall. Backtrack out.

The marker for the Hilt is in Morthal . Journey there and find Jorgen , the woodcutter, whose line has kept the Hilt hidden for generations. You can persuade, bribe or intimidate him to obtain the key to his house or you can pick the lock on his house. Take the Hilt from the chest in his house.

Get to the museum in Dawnstar . Silas will reward you with a pile of gold and will request that you go the Dagon's Shrine to help reassemble the artifact. He will meet you there or you can follow him on the long trek to the remote site on the mountain southwest of Dawnstar where the.stairwell is peeking through the snow. The path begins near Frostmere Crypt and goes past Dimhollow Crypt . Watch for bears and wolves on the way up Mehrune's Dagon's Shrine .

Speak to Silas who places the pieces on the altar. Dagons voice comes to you, saying that he is impressed by your actions and he demands that you kill Silas , who has outlived his usefulness. If you refuse, he will crush you. Silas is a competent mage but you can sneak attack him since Dagon's message didn't reach him. Kill Silas and after the Razor is assembled. Dagon will test your mettle by conjuring a pair of heavily armored Dremora . The platform is small, so retreat as needed to eliminate the two tough opponents. Search their remains for the Key to the Shrine and for their valuable Daedra Hearts .

Use the Key to enter the Shrine and be ready to kill the two Daedra Churls that defend it. Search their remains for the Daedra Hearts . Raid the big treasure chest, the two treasure chests and the other items, which include numerous valuable ingots. There is an Enchanting Skill Book called The Complete Catalogue of Enchantments on a table.

Note: From the altar outside the shrine you can see the Lord Stone northeast of the site. Three bandits have a camp there.

Skyrim: Pieces Of The Past Quest Walkthrough

From Oblivion references to Mehrunes' Razor, here's a complete guide for Skyrim's Pieces of the Past.

Daedric Artifacts are some of the strongest items in The Elder Scrolls franchise. These items have unique properties that are absurdly strong, ranging from unbreakable soul gems to weapons that instantly kill enemies.

RELATED: Skyrim: The Cursed Tribe Quest Walkthrough

That second trait belongs to Mehrunes' Razor, arguably one of the best daggers in Skyrim . It can be obtained from the "Pieces of the Past" quest. Players will have to explore the far reaches of Skyrim to find all three pieces and, with the help of Mehrunes Dagon, reforge the blade. Here is a complete guide on how to complete the "Pieces of the Past" quest in Skyrim.

How To Start Pieces Of The Past

After you reach level 20, a courier will deliver an invitation to visit a new museum in Dawnstar . Should you reach travel to Dawnstar before the courier delivers the invitation, you can walk up to the museum to start the quest.

Visit The Museum

The Museum of Mythic Dawn, known as Silus Vesuius's house in-game, is the museum the pamphlet referred to. It can be found near the coastline on the north end of town. Walking near the museum will trigger a scripted dialogue sequence between Silus, the museum owner, and court wizard Madena. Speak to Silus to get a tour inside.

Silus will allow you to browse the contents of the museum, although you can continue the quest by talking to him straight away. Oblivion fans will recognize most of the items Silus has collected. Whenever you're ready, speak to Silus once again to hear about a job offer.

He will tell you that Skyrim has fragments of Mehrunes' Razor, a powerful Daedric Artifact that belongs to Mehrunes Dagon. Silus will ask you to retrieve three pieces: the pommel, blade shards, and the hilt.

Find The Pommel

Dead Rock Crane houses the first piece of Mehrunes' Razor. Head southwest of Markarth to find this area.

Reaching this zone can be quite a pain. Starting from the Left Hand Mine outside of Markarth, head southeast across the bridge. Shortly after crossing this bridge, you will find a fork in the road. Take the right dirt path. Follow this path until you reach a bridge crossing a waterfall. Instead of crossing the bridge, turn right and climb up the hill. The top of the hill will reveal a clear path to Hag Rock Redoubt. Enter the dungeon and clear it out.

RELATED: Skyrim: Two-Handed Build Guide

The end of the dungeon will lead to a staircase that reveals the entrance to Dead Rock Crane. Enter the tower and climb to the top. Exiting the tower will reveal a sacrificial shrine in use by a Hagraven named Drascua. Her corpse will have the pommel for Mehrunes' Razor.

Find The Blade Fragments

Mehrunes' Razor's blade fragments can be found in Cracked Tusk Keep, a fort directly west of Falkreath. Slay the bandits surrounding the camp and head inside. An Orc named Ghunzul has a key to the chest containing the shards. He can be found inside the keep on the third floor. You can either kill him or steal the key on the dresser near his bed; the result is the same.

Now that you have the key, proceed to the lowest floor of the keep. The key will unlock a button that opens up the Cracked Tusk Keep Vault. Keep an eye out for tripwires on the floor, as this area is riddled with traps. At the end of the corridor are the blade shards.

Find The Hilt

Obtaining the hilt is the easiest part of the quest. Travel to Morthal and head to the northern end of town. A man named Jorgen works at a mill for most of the day. Confront him about the hilt. He won't give the hilt to you, leaving you with four options:

• Persuade him to give you the hilt.
• Bribe him (this costs around 300 Gold).
• Intimidate him.
• Steal his key. You can either pickpocket or kill Jorgen.

Any of those four outcomes will give you the key. Head into his house to unlock the chest containing the hilt.

Meet At The Statue

With all three pieces recovered, travel back to Silus' museum to deliver the fragments. He will pay you a handsome sum of Gold. If you brought all three pieces at once, Silus gives much more Gold. The quest isn't done yet , however.

RELATED: The Elder Scrolls: The Most Fascinating Dragons In The Series

Now that Silus has every part of Mehrunes' Razor, he wants to reconstruct the Daedric Artifact. Regardless of dialogue choice, you will need to meet him at the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon. The shrine is southwest of Dawnstar and a short walk from The Lord Stone.

Decide Silus' Fate

Asking a Daedric Prince to assist a mortal goes as well as you'd expect. Mehrunes Dagon would rather spill Silus' blood than rebuild the dagger for him. Dagon will speak to you, asking you to kill Silus yourself. Silus will then speak to you, pleading for his life. You have two choices:

• Spare Silus, angering Mehrunes Dagon.
• Kill Silus, pleasing Mehrunes Dagon.

Spare Silus

Should you spare Silus, he will run back to Dawnstar after giving you some gold. Consequently, Dagon will spawn two Dremora enemies to kill you and Silus. Kill them or flee to end the quest. Since you don't get Mehrunes' Razor this way, this voids the Oblivion Walker achievement .

If you leave dialogue with Sirus or accept Dagon's request, Silus will immediately turn hostile. He is an archetypal mage , using Destruction spells to take you down from a distance. Close the gap to take him down. Interact with the shrine once he's dead to claim Mehrunes Razor. Dagon will spawn two Dremoras as one final test.

Quest Rewards

Helping Silus throughout the whole quest will give you a healthy sum of Gold. Unfortunately, this path does not grant Mehrunes' Razor—voiding the Oblivion Walker achievement.

Fulfilling Dagon's request grants his signature dagger as a reward. This weapon is effectively a Daedric Dagger while weighing half as much. Unique to this weapon, Mehrunes' Razor has a 2% chance to kill someone instantly. This effect will kill any non-essential NPC including Legendary Dragons, Giants, and Dragon Priests. Sadly, a bug prevents this weapon from benefiting from any Smithing perks . The Unofficial Skyrim Patch fixes this bug.

Next: Skyrim: Spellsword Build Guide

Skyrim Player Points Out Unusual Detail in Dawnstar Museum

The Creation Engine is no stranger to having bizarre bugs, as one Skyrim player discovers an unusual interaction in the Daedric museum in Dawnstar.

• Bethesda's Creation Engine is known for its quirky bugs that often add to the gameplay experience in games like Skyrim, and even the latest release, Starfield, is not immune to these glitches.
• One Skyrim player has highlighted a glitch that causes a Daedric scroll in the Dawnstar museum to turn into a bucket when Destruction magic is used.
• Despite the bugs, Skyrim remains Bethesda's most popular game, attracting both veteran players and new fans brought in by the recent Starfield release.

Skyrim still has a few unusual bugs that add to the experience rather than take away from it, as one player discovered using Destruction magic on a Daedric scroll in the Dawnstar museum will turn it into a bucket. With the sole exception of Fallout 76 's disastrous state at launch , Bethesda has always been given the benefit of the doubt when it came to technical issues. The primary reason for this is that the Creation Engine, more often than not, has some truly bizarre yet harmless bugs that occur in normal gameplay.

Not even the latest Bethesda release is immune to Creation Engine's bugs, as a Starfield glitch can make New Atlantis disappear , and then permanently tether itself to a player's ship. While some players find these types of bugs immersion-breaking, the modding community has thankfully been successful in fixing the issues that the developers never got around to addressing. Community Patches for Fallout 4 and Skyrim are a permanent fixture on any mod list, and it looks like Starfield will follow that tradition as well.

Skyrim Player Buys Horse and Instantly Regrets It

However, the bug that MashMaTaters encountered in Dawnstar not only beggars belief, but it could be argued that the game is better off for it. It's no secret that Dawnstar in Skyrim harbors a museum dedicated to the Mythic Dawn, the cultist worshipers of Mehrunes Dagon, and one of the primary antagonists of Oblivion . In addition to being the starting point in the quest to obtain Mehrunes' Razor, the Dawnstar Museum hosts a few miscellaneous Daedric artifacts in display boxes, one among them being a tattered page of the Mysterium Xarxes. Not only did MashMaTaters lockpick the display into opening, but they proceeded to cast Flames on the ancient scroll.

As seen in the video posted on the Skyrim subreddit, the outcome wasn't what one might have expected. Instead of turning into an explosion (and thus knocking the Dragonborn back), the scroll transformed into a bucket instead. The reason behind this is due to the code calling for the wrong reference ID, though given the nature of Daedric Princes (especially Sheogorath's fondness for pranks), one might even say that a bucket is just as immersive as an explosion in this case.

While Skyrim is over 12 years old, the game still endures as Bethesda's most popular game. Not only are veteran players often happy to start another playthrough, but Starfield has no doubt brought new fans to the franchise that defined the Bethesda sandbox. Though it remains to be seen how Bethesda will develop The Elder Scrolls 6 in the wake of Starfield 's lessons, quirky bugs will almost certainly be a part of its DNA.

Skyrim is a beloved game for a reason. There is so much to do in the game, and with the new anniversary updates, even veteran players will have a fresh experience if they haven’t played it in a few years.  Perfect for players who want to play Skyrim on the go, but don’t have a Steamdeck or another portable gaming system, this deal is likely not going to be repeated until end of year sales start going. Take the opportunity now to become the dragonborn on the Switch!

Museum and Exhibition Center

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Museum and Exhibition Center - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.03 mi) Elektrostal Hotel
• (1.15 mi) Yakor Hotel
• (1.42 mi) Mini Hotel Banifatsiy
• (1.65 mi) Apelsin Hotel
• (1.33 mi) Elemash
• (0.20 mi) Prima Bolshogo
• (0.30 mi) Makecoffee
• (0.40 mi) Mazhor
• (0.42 mi) Amsterdam Moments
• (0.42 mi) Pechka

Maria Gus will talk about Bartlesville's growing movie industry at BAHM event

Visit Bartlesville Executive Director Maria Gus will be guest speaker April 18 at the Bartlesville Area History Museum's April "Third Thursday Lunch and Learn," according to a news release.

The event will begin at noon at BAHM, 401 S. Johnstone Ave.

As the head of Visit Bartlesville since 2008, Gus has served as the liaison to more than 20 film and television shows in the last 15 years, including the award-winning film "Killers of the Flower Moon."

She will discuss the growing movie industry in Bartlesville and the impacts it has on the community.

Gus has sat on the Oklahoma Motion Picture Alliance public relations committee and has worked with the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, Cherokee Nation Film Office, deadCenter Film Festival and the Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Art and Culture.

The event is free and guests are encouraged to bring their lunch or enjoy light refreshments provided by BAHM. No reservations are necessary.

Attendees are also encouraged to enjoy the museum’s newest exhibit “Our Oily Past” on display from April 1 to July 1. Tables and chairs will be set up for people who bring a lunch and children may enjoy the 'History of Oil' coloring station.

For questions, call the museum at 918-338-4290 or email [email protected] .

Inside|Out 2024

May - September, 2024

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Now in its 14th year, the Inside|Out program brings high-quality reproductions of the DIA’s collection to outdoor venues throughout metro Detroit to increase engagement between the museum and its diverse audience.

From now through October, residents of Macomb, Wayne, and Oakland counties will be able to enjoy a piece of the DIA outside in their own community. Each community will display a number of reproductions outdoors clustered within walking or biking distance. 

2024 Communities

• City of Wayne
• Detroit - Grandmont Rosedale
• Northville Township
• Redford Township
• North Rosedale Park (Detroit)
• Wayne County Community College

Macomb County

• St Clair Shores
• Sterling Heights
• Macomb Community College
• Freedom Hill
• Henry Ford Hospital

Oakland County

• Highland Township
• Huntington Woods
• Oakland Community College
• Clinton River Trail
• Orion Township Parks
• Oakland County Parks

Follow the DIA on Facebook and Instagram (@DIADetroit) for updates on Inside|Out 2024 and share your photos using the hashtag #DIAInsideOut for a chance to be featured on the DIA's social media accounts!

Silus Vesuius

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• View history

Silus Vesuius is the owner of the museum in Dawnstar and a proud descendent of members of the Mythic Dawn .

The museum he has in Dawnstar is also his home .

Quests [ | ]

• Pieces of the Past
• 1 Daedric Relic (quest)
• 2 Coral Dragon Claw
• 3 Darkness Returns (quest)

• Articles   >

The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

The Hirshhorn took its modern art treasures out of the vault. It’s a joy.

In some ways, the hirshhorn of this new 50th anniversary show is the one i want to visit over and over.

The Hirshhorn’s not like other museums in town. You’ll rarely see a run of masterpieces to match an art history textbook like you’ll find at the National Gallery of Art. The Hirshhorn doesn’t trumpet the work of its namesake founder, the way that the Phillips Collection builds exhibitions around the vision of Duncan Phillips . And the Hirshhorn isn’t a crystal-cool stage for a handful of elite artists, a la Glenstone.

No doubt, the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has a collection that can stand up to any of them. His gift to the Smithsonian Institution in 1966 comprised almost 6,000 paintings and sculptures by the 19th and 20th centuries’ most vital artists — a figure that doubled with a bequest of his remaining works upon his death in 1981.

But rarely is very much of it on view. Especially over the past decade or so, the museum has learned to love its Gordon Bunshaft-designed building , mounting ambitious installations that sometimes take up an entire minor arc of the Brutalist doughnut.

So the museum’s 50th anniversary this year is an opportunity to step back and see the collection in its original light. A chance to look back on the collection’s most important pictures, perhaps a moment to highlight new scholarship in art history or achievements in conservation. But the Hirshhorn’s not like other museums in town — and for its 50th birthday, the museum is throwing a bash.

“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860-1960” is a delightful romp through the permanent collection, featuring a gobsmacking number of artworks. The first of three planned anniversary exhibitions, this one focuses on modernism in all its lights, exploring the period through a truly maximalist presentation of paintings and sculpture. Better than a greatest-hits exhibition, “Revolutions” remixes the museum’s best B-sides and rarities, while still making a case about the long 20th century in art.

From Grandma Moses to Rashid Johnson , “Revolutions” spans a ludicrous range of painters. Right from the start, the show dials up the contrasts: The first works to greet viewers are a stately 1884 portrait by society painter John Singer Sargent hanging next to an electric 2020 portrait by Ghanaian star Amoako Boafo. Roughly speaking, these works could serve as chronological capstones for the Hirshhorn’s collection. But there’s something else to this pairing: It’s an unlikely diptych that tees up the push-and-pull between figuration and abstraction that defines the collection — and the century.

Curated by the Hirshhorn’s Marina Isgro and Betsy Johnson, “Revolutions” is chockablock with artworks. More than 200 paintings, sculptures and drawings — with the odd photograph thrown in, and a plan to rotate some artworks — trace the flow of ideas from early modernism to the postwar era. That’s a ton of work: For comparison, when the museum mounted a collection show in 2016, it included some 75 pieces.

The first gallery alone showcases a couple dozen works, including a salon-style hang of portraits by the likes of Édouard Vuillard, Thomas Eakins and Mary Cassatt. The show is chronological-ish, with contemporary works (like Boafo’s “Cobalt Blue Dress”) sprinkled throughout to break the very light logic of the show’s organization. The rooms have themes, but these are subordinate to the show’s overall flow, which focuses on pairings and dialogues. Artworks wink at one another from across decades and continents, like the geometric Lakota beadwork painting by Dyani White Hawk from 2022 hanging amid constructivist compositions by László Moholy-Nagy and Nadia Léger originally made a century earlier.

Contemporary selections such as Boafo and White Hawk emphasize and sometimes upend ideas in the collection. They’re just infrequent enough in “Revolutions” that they pop like exclamation points. Loie Hollowell’s three-dimensional painting “Boob Wheel” (2019) is an abstraction of the figure rooted in the artist’s own pregnancy, adding a maternal element (and a shade of sex) to the gallery. Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s “ Literacy Lab ” (2019), a multimedia piece that looks like three different drawings for an “exquisite corpse” — in fact, it’s just a single composition — holds its own alongside two cubist paintings by Picasso.

While it’s a busy painting show, sculpture takes center stage in “Revolutions,” part of a concerted effort to put more shine on the museum’s sculptural holdings, including the magnificent bronzes in the sculpture garden (currently undergoing a renovation ). For the exhibit, the Hirshhorn has revived the light well, a vintage solution for displaying sculpture by placing works on an elevated podium under even, suspended lighting. These retro displays put a spotlight on works by Barbara Hepworth, Jean Arp, Max Ernst and more — smaller sculptures that are easy to overlook in any setting. One of the most magical groupings in the show is a wall-size vitrine that features delicate suprematist marionettes by Aleksandra Exster, futurist flower sculptures by Giacomo Balla and a peerless dada painting by Sonia Delaunay.

Isgro and Johnson find a few chances within the permanent collection to rattle long-standing dogma in art history: for example, by hanging a 1945 painting by the mercurial and long-overlooked artist Janet Sobel that predates the remarkably similar 1949 piece by Jackson Pollock nearby. Throughout the show, the curators elevate marginalized voices without being pedantic about it. Mid-century works by Haitian artists Rigaud Benoit, Hector Hyppolite and Castera Bazile occupy the same kind of space as Willem de Kooning.

In some ways, the Hirshhorn of “Revolutions” is the one I want to visit over and over. There is far too much great work from the 20th century locked away in the vaults of collections like this one. Fernand Léger’s “ Nude on a Red Background ” (1927) should never be put out of sight. And why condemn Balla’s futurist flowers to wither in the dark? Yet dynamic new artworks such as Torkwase Dyson’s “Bird and Lava #4” (2021) and Flora Yukhnovich’s “Lipstick, Lip Gloss, Hickeys Too” (2022), shown in context with the entire collection, make the case that the central ideas animating the 20th century still have juice. History never ends and all that, but Isgro and Johnson are pressing a more specific point, that the Hirshhorn museum continues to trace the loops and echoes of the many modernisms Joseph Hirshhorn followed from the start.

Maybe the most surprising moment comes at the very beginning. Looking at the Boafo-Sargent pairing by the entrance, to the right and almost behind the viewer stands Constantin Brancusi’s “Torso of a Young Man” (1924). A Futurist Manifesto-grade sculpture with this mega-wattage would normally hold pride of place in any collection. Here, it’s presented in an ambiguous position: possibly an anchor, possibly an afterthought. It’s as if to say the museum is still investigating what the 20th century means and how the pieces fit together, a project with no end in sight.

Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860-1960

Independence Avenue and Seventh Street. hirshhorn.si.edu .

Dates: Through April 20, 2025.

Prices: Free.

Lore:Dawnstar

Dawnstar (also known as Danstrar ) [1] is a settlement on the northern coast of Skyrim , and the hold capital of the Pale . [2] [3] It was once a garrison town, which served as an exile post due to the cold harsh climate and notorious gales. [4] [5] The settlement seemingly got its name due to its reputation for "greeting the sun as it begins its journey". [6] It has historically been troubled by the Ice Tribes and Gehenoth . [4] Dawnstar has a history of being the site of battles that have crippled the fate of the Empire. [7]

Dawnstar is neighbored by several settlements, including Bardmont to the south, [8] Helarchen Creek to the southeast, Stonehills to the southwest, and Winterhold to the east. [9] Because of the glacial icefields just to the east, it is the last port before Windhelm that is not icebound following the Great Collapse . Its economy is driven by its two mines, and the people of Dawnstar often find meaning in the stones. [10]

Notable Places [ edit ]

The city has two mines, Iron-Breaker Mine and Quicksilver Mine, which supply iron and quicksilver respectively. It is home to many fishermen and is an important port.

An ancient Dark Brotherhood sanctuary is located beneath the city. A small, isolated ice cave once connected into this sanctuary after its abandonment, and served as the lair of an Udefrykte .

The White Hall, a large longhouse located in Dawnstar, is the seat of the Jarl of the Pale.

The Tower of Dawn , also called Nightcaller Temple, is a ruined military fort often used as a place of worship which sits upon a cliff top overlooking the town. A small lighthouse sits atop a hill just east of town. [3]

History [ edit ]

First and second era [ edit ].

The date of Dawnstar's construction is unknown, but it has been in existence since at least 1E 2920 . [11] It was after the destruction of his fortress in Dawnstar during 2E 283 that Potentate Versidue-Shaie declared martial law, leading to one of the most brutal and bloody periods in the history of Tamriel . At the time, there was a town south of Dawnstar called Bardmont and it was where the Potentate gathered the Imperial Council and made the proclamation. [8] At some point during the Interregnum , Aelfrydda of Dawnstar found a shipwreck locked in ice with its crew all frozen and frostbitten and presumed dead. They then rose, frost-crusted and icy, and picked up their weapons. [12]

Third Era [ edit ]

During the Imperial Simulacrum in the late Third Era , the city-state of Dawnstar was being ruled by King Ulrarne. It had a rivalry with Whiterun and Winterhold . [6] At the end of the Third Era, Dawnstar's Queen Macalla married Thian , king of Solitude , as part of an expansion of Solitude's power in northern Skyrim, leading to an alliance between the two city-states. [13] The Vesuius family of Imperials were one of the oldest families in the city [14] and one member even participated in the Mythic Dawn 's assassination attempt on Uriel Septim VII . [15]

In the late Third Era circa 3E 427 , [UOL 1] Dawnstar was a garrison town and exile post under Governor Cyril Vinticae . The Ice Tribes held a raid against the town and the Governor's four champions lead forces defending the assault. However, Vinticae rightfully suspected one of his champions of setting the Ice Tribes upon the town. [16] Not knowing which among them was the traitor, he banished them all. He then sent for the soon-to-be Hero of Dawnstar to interrogate the champions and expose the traitor. Local healer Eustacia was ordered to assist in healing the Hero, and her oracular visions would prove crucial in the Hero's attempts to cut through the lies. [17] The Hero braved beyond Dawnstar, gaining the banished champions' aid, questioning them about the battle, and cross-referencing their responses with Eustacia's fragmentary visions. Finally, the Hero revealed the true traitor, returning to Dawnstar with the three loyal champions. The Governor awarded the Hero the Starfrost , a magical frost that channels the prayers of Dawnstar and elemental winter through its user. The Ice Tribes and their forces then began their final attack, overwhelming the town's outer defenses, allowing some to slip through Dawnstar's walls. The hero defended the town, slaying the Ice Tribes and concluding the assault with the defeat of the Gehenoth Thriceborn . [4]

Fourth Era [ edit ]

In 4E 166 , a teenage Skald Felgeif became Jarl of Dawnstar after his father died on the battlefield. [7] [10] With the crown left to him, he came into his rule in his teenage years and had never really lost the arrogance and sense of invincibility that comes with that age, becoming quick to judge and standing by his choices. [10]

In 4E 201 , the people of Dawnstar stood unbreakable and firm despite all their troubles, like their leader, Jarl Skald the Elder, who led the city in the support of the Stormcloaks . Around this time, residents of the city fought the weather, the beasts, and raiders every day in order to keep goods and ore flowing into and out of their port and market. [10] The city was susceptible to dragon attacks, as all of its structures were made of wood and the town walls had long since fallen. [3]

The city was subject to many dark goings on during this time. Skald's subjects suffered from chronic nightmares due to a curse put upon them by Vaermina 's Skull of Corruption from within Nightcaller Temple, a curse which was lifted by the Last Dragonborn and a former priest of Vaermina. This wasn't the only daedric influence in the city, as a small cult of Molag Bal worshippers were operating in a hidden cave within the city's quicksilver mine. [18] In the same year, the abandoned Dark Brotherhood sanctuary became inhabited once again, and was the last refuge of the now-crippled guild of assassins after all other sanctuaries were sacked or abandoned. The connecting ice cave was resealed and the Udefrykte within was slain.

Again that same year, a strange set of events started when a novice necromancer named Seviur established himself at a fishing shack west of Dawnstar. He conducted what he believed to be a pacification ritual to summon waves of mudcrabs to the shore so that he could practice his ability to resurrect the creatures as undead. However, frenzied mudcrabs continued to come ashore long after Seviur's illusion magic faded, and he was ultimately killed by the creatures. [19]

A Riften fisherwoman named Viriya sent the Last Dragonborn to the shack to deal with the mudcrabs, as the frenzied crabs posed a threat to locals. [20] Although the attacks subsided, the creatures later reappeared in even greater numbers. Guards were sent from Dawnstar by the Jarl to deal with the creatures, but their ferocity had been underestimated. Dawnstar's forces fled when a Guardian Spirit in the form of an Emperor Crab emerged from the ocean. [21] Although initially in disbelief at the reports, Viriya summoned the Last Dragonborn to Dawnstar and met up with the city's reinforcements to launch a full attack on the crabs. After several waves of mudcrabs, the spirit Emperor Crab reappeared and attacked the soldiers. It was defeated with the use of flaming catapults, ending the threat. [22]

Known Rulers [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ].

Dawnstar (Dawnstar)

The White Hall, the seat of power in Dawnstar (Skyrim)

Dawnstar Healer (Legends)

Banner of Dawnstar (Skyrim)

The Gehenoth

A Daedric Cult under Dawnstar (Skyrim)

Notes [ edit ]

• A dish known as "Dawnstar Sun's Dusk Chowder" is named after the city. [23]
• Arena was originally conceived as a fighting game featuring a tournament that took the player to each of Tamriel's cities to challenge different gladiatorial teams. According to a file from that stage of development left behind in the final game, Dawnstar's gladiatorial team would have been called "the Avengers". [UOL 2]
• The Daedric artifact Dawnbreaker features a glowing crystal in its cross-guard known as the Dawnstar Gem. [24] This gem has no apparent connection with the city of Dawnstar.

See Also [ edit ]

• For game-specific information, see the Arena , Dawnstar , and Skyrim articles.

References [ edit ]

• ^ Ice and Chitin — Pletius Spatec
• ^ Map of Skyrim
• ^ a b c Events of Skyrim
• ^ a b c Events and Message Boxes throughout the quest in Dawnstar
• ^ Foreman Lathdar 's dialogue in ESO
• ^ a b Dawnstar location and rumors in Arena
• ^ a b Skald 's dialogue in Skyrim
• ^ a b History of the Fighters Guild
• ^ Map of Skyrim — The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• ^ a b c d The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Prima Official Game Guide — David Hodgson
• ^ 2920, Frostfall — Carlovac Townway
• ^ Arctic Rime Skin description in ESO
• ^ Pocket Guide to the Empire, 3rd Edition: The Throat of the World: Skyrim — Imperial Geographical Society , 3E 432
• ^ Madena 's dialogue in Skyrim
• ^ Silus Vesuius ' dialogue in Skyrim
• ^ Dawnstar promotional text
• ^ Eustacia 's Dialogue in Dawnstar
• ^ Events of Unholy Vigil in Skyrim
• ^ Seviur's Journal — Seviur
• ^ Crustacean Extermination quest from the Fishing Creation for Skyrim
• ^ Viriya's Hastily Written Letter — Viriya
• ^ Wave Breaker quest from the Fishing Creation for Skyrim
• ^ Dawnstar Sun's Dusk Chowder
• ^ The Golden Knight 's dialogue in ESO: Summerset

Note : The following references are considered to be unofficial sources . They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.

• ^ Anthony Gill Interview
• ^ Original TES: Arena texts at the Imperial Library
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• Lore-All Terms
• Lore-Places-Tamriel-Skyrim
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• Lore Link-Not On Book Page
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Mona ordered to allow people ‘who do not identify as ladies’ into Ladies Lounge exhibit

Tasmanian tribunal rules Museum of Old and New Art discriminated against NSW man by denying him entry to installation

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Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art has been ordered to allow “persons who do not identify as ladies” entry to its Ladies Lounge art installation after losing a legal battle.

The judgment, handed down by the Tasmanian civil and administrative tribunal on Tuesday, found Mona was in contravention of the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act and ordered Mona to allow men to access the installation within 28 days.

“Within 28 days from the date of this order Moorilla Estate Pty Ltd is to cease refusing entry to the exhibit known as the Ladies Lounge at the Museum of Old and New Art by persons who do not identify as ladies,” the judgment said.

The New South Wales man Jason Lau took legal action against Mona , claiming that being denied entry into the Ladies Lounge when he visited the museum last April due to his gender was a contravention of Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act.

Kirsha Kaechele, the artist behind the installation, told Guardian Australia in March that she was “absolutely delighted” the case had ended up in court.

“The men are experiencing Ladies Lounge, their experience of rejection is the artwork,” she said at the time.

The Ladies Lounge, which opened in 2020, has women who enter the space pampered by male butlers and served champagne while being surrounded by some of the museum’s finest pieces of art.

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Kaechele argued in her defence the Ladies Lounge was a “a response to the lived experience of women forbidden from entering certain spaces throughout history” and promoted equal opportunity, the judgment said.

But Lau said the promotion was “vague” and “lacking context”, and argued denying men access to some of the museum’s most important works, including artworks by Sidney Nolan, Pablo Picasso and a trove of antiquities from Mesopotamia, Central America and Africa was discriminatory.

Richard Grueber, the deputy president of Tcat, said in his judgment the evidence put forward by Mona that the artwork promoted equal opportunity was “inconsistent”, adding “it is not apparent how preventing men from experiencing the art within the space of the Ladies Lounge, which is Mr Lau’s principle complaint, promotes opportunity for female artists to have work displayed”.

The judgment said that Mona had indicated that if they were ordered to allow men access, then they would remove the Ladies Lounge as the refusal of men is the point of the work.

“There are many aspects of this case which may seem paradoxical,” Grueber said.

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“The Ladies Lounge has a pointedly participatory component that is intentionally discriminatory, for a good faith artistic purpose that many might not only appreciate but sympathise with or endorse,” he wrote.

“If the Ladies Lounge offended, humiliated, intimidated, insulted or ridiculed Mr Lau, or incited hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule of Mr Lau, rather than discriminating against him, Moorilla might well have a good defence based on good faith artistic purpose. However, the Act does not permit discrimination for good faith artistic purpose per se.”

Grueber also mentioned Kaechele and 25 of her female supporters who extended the performance aspect of the Ladies Lounge during the tribunal hearing in March. Wearing a uniform of navy business attire, the group engaged in discreet synchronised choreographed movements during the proceedings, including leg crossing, leaning forward together and peering over the top of their spectacles. When the proceedings concluded, the troupe exited the tribunal to the Robert Palmer song Simply Irresistible.

Grueber said the performance did not disrupt the hearing, although “it was inappropriate, discourteous and disrespectful, and at worst contumelious and contemptuous.”

A spokesperson for Mona said the museum would take time to “absorb the result” and consider its options.

“We are deeply disappointed by this decision,” they said.

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