Travel in Brief

Smithsonian to lend Dorothy’s ruby slippers
WASHINGTON — Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” are leaving Washington on their first international visit to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Judy Garland wore the shoes in the 1939 film as a farm girl on a magical journey. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced the rare loan of its popular slippers. They will be shown with Dorothy’s privately owned gingham dress in a Hollywood costume exhibit opening Oct. 20 in London. Curators say it’s the first time Dorothy’s dress and shoes have been together since the movie was filmed.

To make the slippers, a designer dyed the shoes red and attached netting to cover them with red sequins. The slippers will return Nov. 21.

Bosnia’s museum closes after 124 years
Bosnia’s 124-year-old National Museum is closing due to disputes among politicians and dwindling state funding.

The 1995 peace agreement ending Bosnia’s war failed to set up a ministry of culture, so its oldest cultural institution, with a collection that includes the 600-year-old Jewish manuscript the Sarajevo Haggadah, was left without a guardian. For years it survived on donations, but those now have dried up. Employees have not received salaries for a year.

The staff recently left the building and nailed wooden boards marked “closed” over the door.

Wire reports