British Museum Is World’s Largest Receiver Of Stolen Goods – Says QC

AncientPages.com - The British Museum has been accused of exhibiting “pilfered cultural property”, by a leading human rights lawyer who is calling for European and US institutions to return treasures taken from “subjugated peoples” by “conquerors or colonial masters”.

Geoffrey Robertson QC said: “The trustees of the British Museum have become the world’s largest receivers of stolen property, and the great majority of their loot is not even on public display.”

Part of the Parthenon or Elgin marbles at the British Museum in London. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Part of the Parthenon or Elgin marbles at the British Museum in London. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

He criticised the museum for allowing an unofficial “stolen goods tour”, “which stops at the Elgin marbles, Hoa Hakananai’a, the Benin bronzes and other pilfered cultural property”. The three items he mentioned are wanted by Greece, Easter Island and Nigeria respectively.

“That these rebel itineraries are allowed is a tribute to the tolerance of this great institution, which would be even greater if it washed its hands of the blood and returned Elgin’s loot,” Robertson said.

He accused the museum of telling “a string of carefully-constructed lies and half- truths” about how the marbles “were ‘saved’ or ‘salvaged’ or ‘rescued’ by Lord Elgin, who came into possession of them lawfully.”

He criticised “encyclopaedic museums” such as the British Museum, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan in New York that “lock up the precious legacy of other lands, stolen from their people by wars of aggression, theft and duplicity”.

Robertson’s views appear in his book, Who Owns History? Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure.

He writes: “This is a time for humility – something the British, still yearning for the era when they ruled the world, ie for Brexit, do not do very well. Before it releases any of its share of other people’s cultural heritage, the British Museum could mount an exhibition – ‘The Spoils of Empire’.” Others argue that the empire also brought benefits, including education and legislation.

Advocating the return of cultural property based on human rights law principles, Robertson observes that the French president, Emmanuel Macron has “galvanised the debate” by declaring that “African cultural heritage can no longer remain a prisoner of European museums”.

“Politicians may make more or less sincere apologies for the crimes of their former empires, but the only way now available to redress them is to return the spoils of the rape of Egypt and China and the destruction of African and Asian and South American societies,” he writes.

“We cannot right historical wrongs – but we can no longer, without shame, profit from them.”

Robertson prepared a report on the reunification of the Elgin marbles for the Greek government with Amal Clooney and the late Professor Norman Palmer. In his new book, he acknowledges that restitution might well encourage further claims, “although – because the Marbles are unique – not necessarily successful ones”.

He writes: “The Benin bronzes, for example, are art which is important to Africa, but not to the world in the way that the marbles have international resonance. On the other hand, the barbaric manner of the taking of the bronzes amounted to a war crime, which is morally more despicable than Elgin’s theft and duplicity.”

He accuses museum trustees and the government of passing the buck when it comes to answering requests for the return of cultural property. He also criticises the lack of diversity among trustees.

Who Owns History?: Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure

The biggest question in the world of art and culture concerns the return of property taken without consent. Throughout history, conquerors or colonial masters have taken artefacts from subjugated peoples, who now want them returned from museums and private collections in Europe and the USA.

The controversy rages on over the Elgin Marbles, and has been given immediacy by figures such as France’s President Macron, who says he will order French museums to return hundreds of artworks acquired by force or fraud in Africa, and by British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has pledged that a Labour government would return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Elsewhere, there is a debate in Belgium about whether the Africa Museum, newly opened with 120,000 items acquired mainly by armed forces in the Congo, should close.

Although there is an international convention dated 1970 that deals with the restoration of artefacts stolen since that time, there is no agreement on the rules of law or ethics which should govern the fate of objects forcefully or lawlessly acquired in previous centuries.

Who Owns History? delves into the crucial debate over the Elgin Marbles, but also offers a system for the return of cultural property based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts. It is not a legal text, but rather an examination of how the past can be experienced by everyone, as well as by the people of the country of origin. Read more

Julian Spalding, the former head of Glasgow, Sheffield and Manchester museums, agreed that the British Museum should give the Elgin marbles back “because they’re an intrinsic part of one the world’s greatest works of art”.

Elgin Marbles. Credit: History Extra

Elgin Marbles. Credit: History Extra

A British Museum spokeswoman confirmed that it allows a “stolen goods tour”, run by an external guide. She said the Elgin marbles were acquired legally, with the approval of the Ottoman authorities of the day.

“They were not acquired as a result of conflict or violence. Lord Elgin’s activities were thoroughly investigated by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 and found to be entirely legal,” she said.

“The British Museum acknowledges the difficult histories of some of its collections, including the contested means by which some collections have been acquired such as through military action and subsequent looting … In the case of the Benin bronzes, the museum visited Benin City in 2018 to talk about plans for a new Royal Museum in Benin City and how the museum could help.”

  • Who Owns History? Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure will be published on 5 November by Biteback

This article was originally published by The Independent -  Read the original article.

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