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Parthenon Notes
Repatriation Notes
Famous artworks
Artwork
Image
Country of origin
Acquiring country
Date of acquisition
Current Location
Related articles
Notes
1
Benin Bronzes
Nigeria
Britain
1849
British Museum
Open
Open
2
Parthenon Marbles
Greece
1801-1804
British Museum
Open
Open
3
Koh-i-noor diamond
India
Britain
1897
British Crown jewels
Open
Open
4
Rosetta Stone
Egypt
France, then England
1801
British Museum
Open
Open
5
Moai Hoa Hakananai’a
Orongo, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Britain
1868
British Museum
Open
Open
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Map of artworks
Arguments
Arguments for repatriation
Moral
It is morally correct, and reflects basic property laws, that stolen or looted property should be returned to its rightful owner.
Cultural
Cultural objects belong together with the cultures that created them; these objects are a crucial part of contemporary cultural and political identity.
Colonialism
To not return objects stolen under colonialist regimes is to perpetuate colonialist ideologies that perceived colonized peoples as inherently inferior (and often “primitive” in some way).
Lack of access
Museums with international collections, often called universal or encyclopedic museums, are located in the Global North: France, England, Germany, the US, places which are expensive to visit and therefore not somewhere most of the world can go to see art. It is precisely a colonial legacy that allowed so many “universal” museums to acquire the range of objects in their collection.
Arguments against repatriation
Empty museums
If all museums returned objects to their countries of origin, a lot of museums would be nearly empty.
Inadequate facilities and resources
Source countries do not have adequate facilities or personnel (because of poverty and/or armed conflict) to receive repatriated materials so objects are safer where they are now.
Increased visibility
Universal museums enable a lot of art from a lot of different places to be seen by a lot of people easily. This reflects our modern globalist or cosmopolitan outlook.
Original creators are gone
The ancient or historical kingdoms from which many objects originally came no longer exist or are spread across many contemporary national borders, such as those of the ancient Roman empire. Therefore, it’s not clear to where exactly objects should be repatriated.
Does not make-up for colonialism
Returning cultural objects which were obtained under colonial regimes to their countries of origin does not make up for the destruction of colonialism.
Movements toward repatriation
Slow-moving efforts
France
In 2017 France commissioned a report which recommended the repatriation of objects in French museums acquired during France’s colonial occupation of parts of western Africa.
Germany
In 2019, the German government passed a resolution to lay the groundwork to establish conditions for the repatriation of human remains and objects from German public collections derived from colonial rule.
The Netherlands’ Nation Museum of World Cultures
In 2019, The Netherlands’ National Museum of World Cultures to proactively return all artifacts within its collection identified as stolen during the colonial era. These efforts, importantly, include sharing catalogues of holdings, a gesture of transparency which will greatly facilitate claims.
Successful repatriation
Progress forward
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
n 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston a Roman sculpture of Herakles to Turkey from which it had been stolen.
National Gallery of Australia
In 2018 The National Gallery of Australia to India a bronze statue of the god Shiva which had been looted from a Hindu temple in Tamil Nadu.
Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
In 2020 The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. returned nearly 11,500 looted objects to Iraq and Egypt, including approximately 5,000 papyri fragments and 6,500 clay tablets.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Taken from a tomb in Italy in the 1070s, it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum Art. They were given an explanation for its acquisition plausible enough to purchase it guilt-free. After its origins were discovered in a vehicle after a car crash, the Met succumbed to public criticism and sent the piece to the National Museum Cerite, in Cerveteri, Italy.
The Vatican
Pope Francis ordered the Vatican Museums to return the three Parthenon marbles held in their collections to Greece. In a statement, Vatican officials referred to the works’ repatriation as a “donation” to Ieronymos II, the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and head of the Greek Orthodox Church, and said it signaled “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth”, according to the .
The —part of the head of the horse pulling Athena’s chariot in the frieze on the west side of the Parthenon, and elements of the heads of a boy and a bearded man—have been in the Vatican Museums’ collections since the 19th century. They were most recently held by the Gregoriano Profano Museum, which houses the Holy See’s collections of antiquities. A timeline for their actual return to Greece has yet to be announced.
Pope Francis visited Athens a year ago, where he met with Ieronymos II and made a nighttime visit to the Parthenon. “History makes its weight felt, and here, today, I feel the need to ask anew for the forgiveness of God and of our brothers and sisters for the mistakes committed by many Catholics,” the pope said during his time in Athens, according to the .
Legislation to address repatriation
Concrete actions
United States
Provides legal frameworks for repatriation were established and hundreds of thousands of objects and human remains have been returned to Indigenous communities where they again work as powerful actors in the creation of spiritual, community and personal meaning.
A famous example is the return of The Ancient One (also called Kennewick Man) after five Pacific Northwest tribes argued that the human remains were an ancestor. Still, the successful repatriation occurred only after genetic testing done by Danish scientists proved the Indigenous peoples’ claim, highlighting the ongoing colonialist legacies affecting cultural repatriation.
Australia
Like the , this also provides legal frameworks for repatriation were established and hundreds of thousands of objects and human remains have been returned to Indigenous communities where they again work as powerful actors in the creation of spiritual, community and personal meaning.
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Resources
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