Belgian foundation to exhibit auctioned T. rex in Antwerp

BERLIN (AP) — A Swiss auction house that sold a composite Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton for over $5 million this week said Friday that the new owner, a Belgian art foundation, will exhibit the fearsome dinosaur at a new cultural center in Antwerp.

The skeleton, made up of nearly 300 bones dug up from three sites in the United States, fetched 4.8 million francs ($5.3 million) at the Koller auction house in Zurich on Tuesday. The anticipated sales price had been 5 million to 8 million francs.

The Koller auction house in Zurich identified the new owner as The Phoebus Foundation, which is backed by the engineering and logistics conglomerate Katoen Natie-Indaver.

The non-profit art foundation plans to put the skeleton, nicknamed Trinity, on show at the Boerentoren tower in Antwerp. The art deco building, which is considered Europe’s oldest skyscraper, is being transformed into a cultural venue by architect Daniel Libeskind.

Promoters said Trinity was built from specimens retrieved from three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations of Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2013. Tyrannosaurus rex roamed the Earth between 65 million and 67 million years ago.