Eight years after French president Emmanuel Macron pledged to return African heritage to the continent, his government has adopted a bill facilitating the deaccession of cultural items plundered from former colonies. The text will be submitted for a vote in the senate on 24 September.
High-profile figures, including the former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, have written a letter criticising what it claims is an “accelerating” campaign to return the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Greece.
An institution is asking its visitors for their view: The Manchester Museum is running a public consultation about the future of Asru, a woman who lived in Thebes, southern Egypt
Hudson’s Bay Company, North America's oldest company, faces bankruptcy and wants to auction objects amassed from its founding in 1670, but it includes many important pieces of Canada’s First Nations and colonial heritage.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), today returned two works of art from the Benin Kingdom to His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, Oba of Benin, in a ceremony at the Nigeria House in New York City.
In The Art Newspaper, Ben Luke wonders whether museums are ‘guilt tripping’ their visitors and concludes they aren’t doing enough.
Engaging with the difficult histories behind objects has deepened my experiences at cultural institutions — and the fact it is different for everyone is a good thing.
A ceremony took place in the Leiden World Museum around the restitution of the heritage of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe. It is the first time the Netherlands has returned objects to the United States. „The healing process can now begin.”
[ in German, in English ] The German government has again defended the return of the Benin bronzes to Nigeria. It was good and right to return them without conditions. Nigeria can decide where they stay, said the parliamentary state secretary in the foreign office, Müntefering, in the Bundestag.
The focus of the campaign is on the process of retrieval of antiquities through bilateral cooperation and partnership, in a manner consistent with existing international arrangements. Great Britain has the most extensive collections.
Germany had hoped that by returning 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria last year it was “healing the wounds” of colonialism. But when it emerged that ownership of the repatriated objects will pass to the king of Benin rather than the Nigerian state, Berlin found itself facing a public relations nightmare.
Unlike the British Museum and other UK national museums, the Royal Collection is able to deaccession, provided that this is advised by its trustees and authorised by the monarch. The collection is not owned personally by Charles, but he holds it in trust as sovereign to pass on to his successor.
The Austrian government aims to propose legislation governing the restitution of objects in national museums acquired in a colonial context by March 2024.
Lawyer Alexander Herman: To make progress in returning countries’ heritage taken by previous generations, museums must take a pragmatic, ethical stance.
An exquisite diptych which links Albrecht Dürer and Christian Ethiopia is being investigated at the British Museum, raising a fascinating story of cross-cultural links.
Recent research has explored how collections’ information systems and databases present a number of issues for communities whose cultural heritage and traditional knowledge was acquired and held unethically.
Dresden’s museum of world cultures returned four everyday objects to the Kaurna Aboriginal community of Australia at a ceremony in Sydney: the spear, digging stick, cudgel and net were brought to Germany by two protestant missionaries between 1838 and 1839.
Political turmoil across the continent is hampering plans for national structures to return colonial-era heritage. But the UK, once a laggard, appears to be preparing to review laws
Manchester Museum, UK, has handed over 174 items to the Australian Aboriginal Anindilyakwa Community, marking one of the largest restitution projects ever undertaken in the UK.
The Mauritshuis gallery in the Netherlands and the Humboldt Forum in Berlin have joined forces in an exhibition that addresses the looting of art that has sustained European collections for centuries
Many believe new applications—from AI and NFTs to 3D scanning—are game changing in returning objects to source communities. Lawyers say they can make the process harder.
Among the most intriguing objects in the British Museum is the Asante Ewer, a bronze jug made in England for Richard II in the 1390s, which somehow ended up in West Africa.
Human remains held in French public collections and less than 500 years old, can now be returned to their countries of origin by a decision of the prime minister.
Robert Jenrick, MP Conservative Party since 2014 and Minister of State from 2022 to 2023, writes: Our museums have fallen into the hands of a careless generation. Foreign governments seeking restitution of art calculate that our institutions – the UK itself – lacks the self-confidence to fight back.
Six years ago, AIATSIS set up the Return of Cultural Heritage (RoCH) programme, and began looking at collections worldwide that might have holdings to return. Among the 200 institutions it first contacted, 74 responded positively, among these the Fowler museum in Los Angeles
The British Museum (BM) has an extensive collection of Chinese antiquities. Historically, many assumed that these treasures were obtained through imperialist plunder. However, recent findings by US historian Justin Jacobs present a different narrative, suggesting that a significant number of the artifacts in question were willingly given to the British Museum by Chinese officials.
Your auction is soaked in blood—give back Ras Desta Damtew’s medal: An open letter to La Galerie Numismatique in Lausanne. The medal was stolen by a Fascist army invader, its proper recipient unlawfully executed, and now your event practically celebrates the theft and murder.
It is seven years since President Emmanuel Macron of France announced his revolutionary plan to return African heritage to the continent. But following his declaration in Burkina Faso in November 2017 that “African heritage can’t just be in European private collections and museums”, the restitution journey has been arduous.
Claim of the Restitution Study Group: The Supreme Court has denied certiorari in the case Deadria Farmer-Paellmann v. Smithsonian Institution, allowing the return of 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria to proceed without further legal challenge.
