Cultural Restitution

December 1, 2019
NORWAY
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Norway

Updated November 2024


Below is a schedule of successful restitutions made by Norway to a country or community of source.  Entries are updated regularly.


November 2024

For the third time, Oslo's Kon-Tiki Museum is returning artefacts and human remains collected by Thor Heyerdahl in the late 1940s to Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

apnews.com




September 2021

Nearly 100 Mesopotamian artefacts in the collection of a private Norwegian collector are the subject of a restitution request from Iraqi authorities to the Norwegian Ministry of Culture

ArtDaily



April 2019

Oslo’s Kon-Tiki Museum agrees to hand back thousands of artefacts, collected by the explorer Thor Heyerdahl in the 1950s, to Rapa Nui

https://www.thelocal.no/20190330/norways-kon-tiki-museum-agrees-to-return-easter-island-items



More News

Andy Burnham makes U-turn on the Parthenon Marbles

September 7, 2026
After assuming the UK’s highest office, another British prime minister has changed his mind about returning the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. Was this predictable?

United States urged not to renew a cultural property agreement with Egypt

May 31, 2026
The USA is being urged not to renew a five-year cultural property agreement with the Arab Republic of Egypt, on the grounds Egypt has prioritised ‘prestige megaprojects’ and ‘political spectacle’ over site protection and collections management

New online tool will help museums assess a moral claim for restitution

March 19, 2026
“Modern morality,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “consists in accepting the standard of one’s age.” But how can museums define the moral standard of this age when constrained by historic rules of stewardship and the absence of a modern ethical framework?