Alumna Anna Bottinelli Appointed President of Monuments Men Foundation
John Cabot University alumna Anna Bottinelli was recently appointed as the new President of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. The Monuments Men were a group of museum directors, curators, art historians, and educators who saved millions of monuments and other cultural treasures from the Nazis during World War II. Based in Dallas, Texas, the Monuments Men Foundation preserves the legacy and continues the work of these heroic men and women by locating and returning works of missing art and cultural treasures.
JCU alumna Anna Bottinelli
Originally from Florence, Anna graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in Art History and a minor in Business Administration. In 2011, she earned an M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Following graduation, Anna served as lead Italian researcher to Robert M. Edsel, Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men Foundation on his New York Times bestseller, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis (2013). She joined the Foundation in 2014, advancing to the position of Director of Research in 2017.
During her tenure at the Foundation, Anna has overseen numerous restitutions of cultural objects to individuals and museums in Europe. She has also served as a consultant for “Hunting Nazi Treasure,” an eight-part investigative documentary series produced by Saloon Media in 2017. The program continues to air on Discovery’s American Heroes Channel, History Channel-Canada, and Canale Focus in Italy, with additional future broadcasts planned internationally.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the Monuments Men Foundation into the future,” said Anna. “With hundreds of tips on missing works of art and cultural objects, 2020 promises to be a very busy year. I also look forward to building on the Foundation’s relationships with leading organizations in the cultural property arena, in the U.S. and abroad. We are particularly excited about our longstanding relationships with the National Archives, the Italian Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, and the National World War II Museum, home to the Monuments Men Foundation Collection and site of the permanent Monuments Men Gallery, currently under construction. One of my goals is to develop new programs that will capture the imagination of young people as a way of cultivating the Monuments Men and Women of tomorrow.”
Congratulations to Anna Bottinelli from the entire JCU community!
