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RIYADH: Colnaghi, one of the world’s oldest art galleries, has signed an agreement with Sarat Investment Holding to open its first gallery in the Middle East. 

Announced at the Cultural Investment Conference 2025, the investment in the Riyadh location is valued at SR10 million ($2.7 million), according to a press release. 

The move marks Colnaghi’s expansion into the Middle East, aiming to strengthen its regional presence while supporting ������Ƶ’s growing cultural and art market. The gallery is expected to create opportunities for investment and development within the Kingdom’s creative industries.

 With the new gallery in Riyadh, Colnaghi aims to bring an advanced cultural and artistic experience within ������Ƶ's investment environment, contributing to the Kingdom's cultural development and supporting its economic diversification goals. 

The Cultural Investment Conference, an annual two-day event, highlights culture as a national identity pillar and an emerging economic sector. It brings together investors, entrepreneurs, and cultural institutions to explore innovative financing tools, partnerships, and investment opportunities across creative industries.

MADRID: Spain’s leftist government said Tuesday it will investigate companies that advertise products or services in the country that originate in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
The measure follows the approval of a decree last week that bans the promotion of such goods and services in Spain to prevent firms from benefiting from the occupation, the consumer ministry said in a statement.
The decree is part of a package of measures that includes an arms embargo on Israel aimed at halting what Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called “the genocide in Gaza.”
Consumer Affairs Minister Pablo Bustinduy said earlier this year his office would use “all necessary resources” to ensure no company operating in Spain profits from the occupation.
“No firm should have its balance sheet stained with the blood of the Palestinian people,” the statement quoted him as saying at an event in July.
The United Nations on Friday released an update of its database of companies with activities in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, listing 158 firms from 11 nations.
But one of the Spanish firms cited, builder ACS, swiftly requested to be removed from the list, saying it had in 2021 sold its subsidiary, SEMI, that operates in Israel.
“ACS does not carry out any activity in Israel or in the Israeli settlements,” the company, led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, said in a statement.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, although most are considered legal by Israel.
Some so-called “outposts” are illegal, but often tolerated and sometimes later legalized.
Spain is one of the most vocal critics in Europe of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which was launched in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.