VALLETTA, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Four centuries ago, Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a man in trouble.

Celebrated for his dramatic chiaroscuro (light and shadow) paintings, he was equally theatrical in life, and one of the many brawls he was notorious for ended in the death of a young adversary in Rome, Ranuccio Tomassoni, in 1606.

With a price on his head, Caravaggio fled to Naples and then to Malta, where he hoped to curry favour with the Knights of Malta and secure a pardon for Tomassoni's death.

MIDRAND, South Africa, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - For economy student Helena Gaspar one can never know too much about sex, and it is this which has seduced her into attending 'Sexpo' - South Africa's first ever sex exhibition.

Innocently grasping a red balloon inscribed with the words 'Blow me,' the 22-year-old admits she 'learned a lot,' as she leaves a workshop dedicated to orgasms.

'I know now how my boyfriend can have an orgasm without ejaculating. It's great!'

AMSTERDAM, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - After exhibitions on Glasgow, Vienna and Prague 1900, the Van Gogh Museum on Friday opened 'Barcelona 1900' which tells the story of the transformation of the Spanish city at the turn of the century.

From 1880 to 1909 the city underwent enormous architectural development and flourished socially and artistically. In that era the many painters, musicians, architects and silversmiths but also industrialists and workers made Barcelona 'The Paris of the South' or 'The Catalan Manchester.'

LONDON, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - British museum-goers finally got their chance to see part of China's terracotta army Thursday, as a long-awaited major exhibition opened in London.

The British Museum is hosting 'The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army' until April 6 and advance ticket sales are already breaking box office records, with 150,000 tickets sold before the exhibition had even started.

The exhibition could outstrip the Treasures of Tutankhamun display in 1972, seen by 1.7 million people.

BRUSSELS, Aug 26, 2007 (AFP) - Italian renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci is being hailed as 'The European Genius' at a new exhibition in Brussels, and the crowds are flocking to decode his works.

The major show, housed in the impressive National basilica of Koekelberg in the city centre, has attracted over 10,000 visitors in its first week, despite some carping that there are not that many original works on display.

LONDON, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - British soldiers have brought a small piece of Afghanistan to London, in a museum show reflecting their experiences in the violence-torn southern province of Helmand.

'Helmand: the soldiers' story' opened Friday at the National Army Museum, bringing together diaries, videos, photographs and personal objects ranging from camouflage jackets to army boots donated by 150 soldiers.

A huge tent houses a reconstruction of a military unit's living quarters, while visitors can study campbeds littered with soldiers' letters to their families.

LONDON, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II's wedding dress and gifts from dignitaries including Mahatma Gandhi are going on display as part of an exhibition about her wedding day 60 years ago which opens in London Saturday.

The show at Buckingham Palace, which marks the diamond wedding anniversary of the British monarch and Prince Philip on November 20, has the royal seal of approval -- Queen Elizabeth is said to be 'very excited' about it.