Cultural Restitution
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Finland returns two fragments of sacred stones to Namibia
01 May 2023
Two fragments of sacred stones taken by Finnish missionaries from Ondonga, a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in northern Namibia, were handed over to Namibia’s Education, Arts and Culture Minister, Anna Nghipondoka, at an official handover ceremony last April. Before being returned to the Ondonga traditional community, the sacred artefacts will be transferred to the National Museum of Namibia. On a state visit to Namibia, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö acknowledged the importance of the ‘Ondonga Power Stone’ to the Ondonga community, describing it as an essential part of their identity and heritage.
New attempts are being made to recover Zimbabwean human remains
01 May 2023
A Zimbabwean campaign group called Bring Back our Bones (BBOB) is petitioning the British Government to recover the missing remains of the heroes of an uprising against British colonial rule during the 1890s. Many Zimbabwean skulls from this period were transported to the UK as trophies of conquest, including the skull of revolutionary leader Mbuya Nehanda, who was captured by the British in 1897, hanged and then beheaded. Zimbabwe’s Government has offered to return the body of Cecil Rhodes in exchange for these skulls. BBOB wants to see British institutions such as London’s Natural History Museum, the V&A and the British Museum open their archives and produce documentation for the period when the bones were taken. The Natural History Museum has acknowledged it holds Zimbabwean skulls in its collection and has agreed to return 11 skulls of uncertain provenance. It has also said it will continue to cooperate with Zimbabwe. However, the investigations we’ve undertaken suggest it is most unlikely that conclusive evidence still exists to identity the skull of Nehanda or any other of her revolutionary colleagues.
A Nepali statue stolen in 1995 has been tracked down by Lost Arts of Nepal and returned voluntarily
10 May 2023
A 16th century gilded statue of Vajradhara, stolen from Dolakha in Nepal in 1995 (a period when Nepal suffered from extensive looting) has been tracked down by the citizen activist group Lost Arts of Nepal. The group identified the statue when it was offered for sale online by a Hong Kong dealer. There were sufficient reports, publications and photographic evidence to confirm the statue had been stolen. Even so, this still may not have guaranteed its recovery. However, once news of its illicit removal was confirmed, the owner withdrew the statue from the dealer, who requested mediation between the different stakeholders. The owner was willing to return the statue to Nepal voluntarily on condition they remain anonymous. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign says, in light of a growing public awareness of extensive looting, this is just one of many recent examples of private collectors voluntarily returning cultural objects to their countries of origin. The Vajradhara case also shows that some repatriation cases are better handled with discretion and through behind the scenes mediation, rather than through high profile social media campaigns.
A critical review of the Martinez report on France’s Shared Heritage suggests it will prevent African repatriation
14 May 2023
Former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez delivered his 85-page report Shared Heritage: Universality, Restitutions and Circulation of Works of Art last month (23 April) following a commission from President Macron in October 2021. This long-awaited report recommends guidelines for returning objects looted during the colonial era, as well as objects looted by the Nazis. Defining his framework policy for restitutions, Martinez’s report recommends adopting a pragmatic approach, using two principal criteria as the basis for restitutions: illegality and illegitimacy. In his detailed and critical review of this Martinez report, the Ghanaian restitution expert Dr Kwame Opoku weighs up its key elements and concludes the report proposes conditions for restitution that would prevent any quick return of looted African artefacts. He also maintains it ‘seems to symbolize the awakening of groups against returning, believing the Sarr-Savoy went too far.’
The ruler of Ghana’s Asante people meets director of the British Museum to request return of Asante items
16 May 2023
British Museum director Dr Hartwig Fischer has met with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, ruler of Ghana’s Asante people who was in London to attend the coronation of King Charles III. The Museum holds more than 200 Asante items, many of which were taken by British troops during the Anglo-Asante wars and the looting that followed the burning of the Asante Palace at Kumasi in 1874. Ghana recently set up a Restitution Committee to explore the return of these Asante treasures. At this first meeting with the director of the British Museum, the Asantehene requested a loan of objects including regalia and sacred items, acknowledging the positive collaboration between Ghana’s Manhyia Palace Museum and the British Museum.
Mexico recovers a collection of cultural artefacts from two collectors in San Diego
17 May 2023
This month, two collectors of Mexican cultural artefacts based in San Diego, California voluntarily handed over 65 objects to the Mexican Consulate. The objects come from different geographic regions and cover a range of periods from the Preclassic through to the Postclassic periods. It is unknown how the two collectors acquired these objects, which will be repatriated to the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. Under the administration of its current president, Andrés Manuel Lópes Obrador, Mexico has been especially active in the recovery of its cultural heritage. A social media campaign launched by the government #MiPatrimoniaNoSeVende (‘My Heritage is Not for Sale) is understood to have led to the return of some 9,000 illegally traded artefacts.
After a long legal battle, Greece announces hundreds of stolen artefacts recovered from Robin Symes are to be returned
23 May 2023
Efforts by Greece to repatriate stolen antiquities continue to bear fruit. Following a 17-year legal battle, Greece has finally recovered a large hoard of stolen antiquities, which were hidden in a cache belonging to the disgraced British dealer Robin Symes. Possibly part of the same hoard recovered from a Geneva Freeport in 2016, the legal battle to recover these objects started in 2005 after Symes’ extensive trading in stolen artefacts was exposed and he was jailed for his part in a network of art traffickers, connected to the infamous Italian smuggler, Giacomo Medici. The 351 objects that Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni announced are being returned include a 2nd century bronze statue of Alexander the Great, a Neolithic period statuette possibly dated to 4000 B.C. and various marbles fragments from Greece’s Archaic period (700-500 B.C.). Symes is understood to have hidden away crates of stolen antiquities in order to conceal them from the executors and family of his partner, Christo Michaelides, who died in 1999.
Buckingham Palace likely to receive more repatriation requests from former colonial countries
23 May 2023
The arrival of King Charles III on the British throne is likely to be accompanied by a fresh wave of appeals to return items to former British colonies and theatres of war. Ethiopia has already approached Buckingham Palace with a request to return the remains of Prince Alamayu, buried in catacombs outside St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. However, a Palace spokesperson has given the much-repeated excuse that it would not be possible to exhume his remains, “without disturbing the resting place of a substantial number of others in the vicinity.” [Read Objects can help tell the story of Prince Alamayu] As the Royal Collection is not prevented by legislation from returning artefacts to countries of source, there are also questions whether demands from Nigeria and Ghana to return looted objects may be stepped up. Although such decisions would be a matter for the trustees of the Royal Collection Trust, the King is known to have a strong interest in world customs and religions.
National Trust chairman confirms work is underway on a policy for the return of stolen objects
30 May 2023
Speaking at this year’s Hay Literary Festival, National Trust chairman René Olivieri confirmed the charity is working on a policy for the return of stolen objects in its properties. Olivieri was responding to a question whether Indian artefacts in Powis Castle, Wales, collected by Robert Clive (Robert Clive of India) and his son Edward while India was under British rule, should be returned to India. Describing it as a “question for the future,” he said the National Trust was “in the process of creating our own policy” and that it would follow advice given by the Museums Association and Arts Council England. Arts Council England guidance recommends that museums should publish their policy on restitution and repatriation on their websites. The National Trust does not have such a policy but a spokesperson said it is their intention to publish their policy when completed.
A delegation from New Zealand visits Germany to repatriate more than 100 human remains
08 June 2023
A delegation from New Zealand arrived in Germany last month with the aim of recovering Māori and Moriori remains from collections in six German cities. Led by Herekiekie Herein, head of repatriation at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the delegation collected 64 ancestral remains at their first stop, the Grassi Museum in Leipzig. The delegation then travelled to the University of Göttingen, which houses thousands of human remains, including ancestral remains from Oceania. In Stuttgart, Prof Lars Frogman, director of the City’s Natural History Museum, explained that unlike other remains that were used for race research or exhibition, their Oceania remains were treated as “scientific objects”, stored for more than 150 years with other bones in boxes within the “mammal collection”. A powhiri, or welcome ceremony, will be held on the return of these remains to New Zealand before they are taken to their final resting place.
Austria plans to introduce legislation for handling restitution claims
20 June 2023
Although Austria’s own colonial activities were limited, Austrian individuals and organisations profited from trade, political upheaval and acquisition in the colonial territories of other nations. Following recommendations made by a government-appointed advisory committee, Culture Secretary Andrea Mayer announced at a press conference that Austria’s Government plans to introduce legislation by March 2024 providing a framework for the restitution of objects in state museums acquired in a colonial context. Chairman of the advisory committee, Jonathan Fine, the scientific director of the Weltmuseum in Vienna, said there is limited knowledge exactly how many objects in Austrian state collections might be eligible for restitution. But he understands “very many” of the 200,000 objects in the Weltmuseum collection were taken in a colonial context. Objects that may be eligible for restitution, according to the advisory committee, include those whose owners “did not wish to part with them at the time they were collected” and include those lost “under conditions of violence, looting, theft, coercion or by deceptive means.” The committee has recommended that repatriations are made on a state-by-state basis, using an “orderly, consistent and comprehensive” process.
Founder’s links to slavery explored in forthcoming exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge
20 June 2023
Richard, seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam’s bequest of his extensive collection of works of art and library to the University of Cambridge in 1816 led to the founding of the Fitzwilliam Museum. However, a significant part of the museum’s funding came from his grandfather, Matthew Decker, a Dutch-born British merchant and financier. Decker’s wealth came from the profits of the transatlantic slave trade. Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance, a new exhibition that opens at the Fitzwilliam Museum in the autumn (18 Sept 2023 to 7 Jan 2024), will explore this overlooked legacy. Decker helped establish the South Seas Company in 1700, a trading enterprise that obtained exclusive rights to traffic African people to the Spanish colonial Americas. Works in the exhibition from West Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Europe will reveal histories of exploitation, resilience and liberation. Fitzwilliam director, Luke Syson, said: “the exhibition situates us within an enormous transatlantic story of exploitation and enslavement, one whose legacy is in many ways as pervasive and insidious today as it was in the 17th, 18th or 19th century.”
Ireland announces new advisory committee on the restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage
20 June 2023
Catherine Martin, Ireland’s Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, has announced the establishment of a new expert committee to advise Government on the restitution and repatriation of culturally sensitive objects. The committee will undertake research into international best practice and will engage with key stakeholders to assess the scope of relevant cultural heritage collections in Ireland. Its objective is to provide policy advice and prepare national guidelines to support Irish cultural institutions when dealing with objects of unknown provenance in their collections. Announcing the new committee, Minister Martin said: “The restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage is a complex and sensitive issue, and one that is increasingly coming to the fore for museums worldwide. That makes it all the more important that we provide structures and guidance to support our cultural institutions in navigating this terrain.”
Germany returns two 15th century Kogi masks to Colombia
23 June 2023
Two wooden masks sacred to the Kogi people, the Indigenous group that lives in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains of northern Colombia, were returned to Colombian President Gustavo Petro at a ceremony in Berlin this month. Both masks were purchased legally in 1915 from the son of a Kogi priest by German ethnologist Konrad Theodor Preuss and date back to the mid-15th century. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation now acknowledges that because the masks are so sacred, they should never have been purchased in the first place. “The Kalguakala [masks] are of total importance to us as they are sacred,” said Arregocés Conchacala Zalabata, a representative of the Kogi. “They are not a historical artefact, they are alive.” Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the initiative as “part of a rethink of the way in which we treat our colonial past.” However, a concern has been raised about their contamination with chemicals while held in Germany. Both masks were cleaned and ‘detoxified’ earlier in the year. “We still have some doubt over whether they can be directly worn in front of the face,” according to Rudolf Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Douglas Latchford’s daughter hands over a Vietnamese statue plus $12m of her father’s money
23 June 2023
In a settlement finalised this month with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the daughter of antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford has returned a 7th century Vietnamese Durga statue and yielded up $12 million from her father’s estate. The agreement is thought to be the largest forfeiture of looted antiquity profits to date. Indicted in 2019 after spending decades of trafficking Southeast Asian antiquities that have ended up in museum and private collections around the world, Latchford died in 2020. The following year, his daughter Julia Copleton agreed to return 125 objects from her father’s collection, valued at more than $50 million. The Durga statue was acquired by Latchford in Vietnam in 2008. His restorer reported it was corroded and displayed iron deposits, suggesting it had only recently been excavated. Latchford attempted to sell the statue to an American collector in 2011, giving Cambodia as the statue’s provenance. After the collector failed to buy the statue, it remained in Latchford’s personal collection. The US Attorney’s Office has confirmed this settlement does not mean their investigation into Latchford’s affairs are completed.
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