MILAN (AP) — Italy's culture minister has announced that a German will run the famed Uffizi Gallery in Florence after the government opened up top museum jobs for the first time to an international competition.

Of 20 appointments to key public museums announced Tuesday, seven went to foreigners, including the head of the Ufizzi, one of the world's oldest museums housing such treasures as Botticelli's "Primavera" and Leonardo's "Adoration of the Magi." Eike Schmidt, a 47-year-old art historian, has held positions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Gallery of Art.

Italy's culture ministry published advertisements in foreign publications to attract expert candidates from around the world with the aim of making Italian museums more dynamic in both their services and fundraising.