Where and to whom do ancient things belong? What happens when they are stolen—not by a colonial power, but by a national museum claiming them as state patrimony? What kinds of healing and restitution can follow?
In Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome, Gloria Jane Bell considers Indigenous cultural belongings held in Vatican Museums collections. As she turns attention to the stories they tell—and the Vatican’s efforts to silence them—she locates these possessions within a long history of Indigenous travelers with creative ties to Rome.
In 1925, Pius XI staged the Vatican Missionary Exposition in Rome’s Vatican City. Gloria Bell explores the relationship between Indigenous cultures around the world and the Vatican, which holds thousands of works by Indigenous scholars and refuses to return them.
