10 to catch: Apollo's selection for the month ahead

El Greco's Penitence of Mary Magdalen (1575, left) is joined by works by Velazquez, Goya, Melendez and Murillo in 'Spanish painting in German collections' at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. The exhibition (27 September-2 January 2006) gives an overview of Spanish art from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, as well as an analysis of German taste in the subject since 1700. ( 49 [0] 3 51 49 14 2000)

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This St Charlemagne (1360-65) is one of the little-known treasures on show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 'Prague, the crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437' examines the reigns of Charles IV of Bohemia and his sons Wenceslas and Sigismund, under whose patronage the city's culture flourished (20 September-6 January 2006). ( 1 212 535 7710)

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Professor John Curtis, keeper of the Ancient Near East department at the British Museum, has visited Iraq often recently to assess the damage caused to her cultural heritage. He is giving a lecture on the subject, 'What happened to Babylon?' on 28 September at the Royal Geographical Society, London, on behalf of the World Monuments Fund. ( 44 [0] 20 7730 5344)

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Kassel's 'Documenta' art festival, established 1955, has become internationafly respected thanks to contributions by Joseph Beuys (right) and others. '50 years Documenta' at the city's Kunsthalle Fridericianum traces its history (1 September-20 November). ( 49 [0] 561 70 72 70)

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Once a cathedral was the prerequisite for a city. Nowadays, an art biennial is the diagnostic test. The Lyon Biennale (14 September-30 December) takes 'temporality' as its theme. Left: an installation by Virginie Barre. www.biennale-de-lyon.org

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The first Berlin Photography Festival (23 September-14 November) has as its centrepiece an exhibition of international photography at the Martin Gropius-Bau museum (left: Holes, taken in Sarajevo by Masaki Hirano in 1997). www.berlin-photography festival.de

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The Louvre is organising the first major monographic exhibition of 'Anne-Louis Girodet (1767-1824)'. 100 paintings and drawings trace his development from a pupil of David to Romantic sensuousness and irrationality (22 September-2 January 2006). ( 33 [0] 1 40 20 53 17)

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British Museum director Nell MacGregor says he has never felt pressure from the Foreign Office. That is just as well, since everyone's favourite potential nuclear power, Iran, has lent to the museum many rare artefacts for 'Forgotten empire: the world of Ancient Persia' (9 September-8 January 2006). Left: gold armlet, c. fifth century BC. ( 44 [0] 20 7323 8482)

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'The National Heritage Memorial Fund: 25 years of supporting the National Gallery' (24 September-30 October) at London's National Gallery contains seven masterpieces by Holbein, Cuyp (right), Poussin and others, bought by the NG with NHMF aid. ( 44 [0]20 7747 2885)

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The fourteenth Florence Biennale (30 September-9 October), the largest to date, at the Palazzo Corsini has ninety exhibitors. This ink study of a lion by Luigi Sabaterli is with Pandora Old Masters, New York. (See 'Art Market', pp. 100-105). ( 39 055 282 635)

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