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Cultural Restitution

Nov 01, 2022
Rosetta Stone: No priority for restitution
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It’s no coincidence the opening of the British Museum’s new exhibition Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt has encouraged fresh appeals for the return of the Rosetta Stone to Egypt. But do these appeals stand any greater chance of success than other restitution campaigns?


A petition signed by as many as 2,500 archaeologists has called on the British Museum, home to the Rosetta Stone since it arrived in England in 1802, to repatriate this famous slab of black basalt to Egypt in time for the opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, now scheduled for 2023.


Co-founder of this latest campaign, Monica Hanna, an Associate Professor of Archaeology & Cultural Heritage, has set out Egypt's case for repatriation in the latest edition of The Inquiry (BBC World Service), which asks whether it’s time Britain returns the Stone to Egypt. Hanna is convinced the Stone “represents cultural violence for Egypt.”


“Claiming back our past represents for us moving towards healing from past crimes and moving towards giving a different future for Egyptians,” Hanna says.


As part of what she describes as her country's process of modern nation building, Hanna says that with diplomacy and advocacy, Egypt can “gain back what was taken from us by violence," adding "this would empower normal Egyptians to believe there are methods to correct past crimes.”


Returning Heritage was invited to comment on the obstacles that prevent the Stone's repatriation. Although we drew attention to the principal obstacle to its return, namely the provisions in the British Museum Act that prevent deaccessioning, the programme omitted two other reasons why this petition is going to fail.

For a start, the petition doesn’t come with the full authority of the Egyptian Government. Instead, it's an appeal to the current administration to add their official support to public efforts to return the Stone. In truth, without government support, this campaign will never be considered credible.


The Museum has a good track record fending off other petitions for restitution, in particular those by the indefatigable Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass, whether made while in office at Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities Affairs or in his subsequent roles as an Egyptian archaeologist. Dr Hawass has campaigned almost continuously for thirty years to return three iconic items of Egyptian identity: not just the Rosetta Stone, but also the Dendera Zodiac in the Louvre and the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin. 


Speaking at the launch of the Tutankhamun exhibition in London in November 2019, Dr Hawass announced he is now leading “a committee of intellectual Egyptians and foreigners” to ask for the return of all three items. “I believe they are unique and their home should be Egypt," he said.


We await further news of this initiative. In the meantime, the British Museum maintains they have still not received any official request from the Egyptian Government for the Stone’s repatriation.   


The second reason for the petition's likely failure is the claim made by Egypt that the Rosetta Stone was removed under conditions of violence. This simply don’t hold up to scrutiny.


Unlike other high profile contested items in the Museum’s collection - in particular, the Benin Bronzes and the loot plundered from Maqdala, Ethiopia -  the Rosetta Stone was not forcibly plundered. French engineers discovered the irregularly-shaped slab of basalt in July 1799, reportedly found either lying on the ground or, more likely, discovered embedded into one of the walls of the medieval fortress of  Fort Julien in the Nile Delta, not far from the Egyptian town of Rashid (known to Europeans as Rosetta). Recognising the significance of the three different scripts, the Stone was transported immediately to the new Institut d'Egypte in Cairo, where copies were made by the French and circulated to scholars across Europe.


When British forces began threatening the French  expedition, the Stone was despatched to Alexandria where it awaited shipment to Paris. But after the surrender of Napoleon’s forces in 1801 and the subsequent treaty of capitulation, the Rosetta Stone, along with other important Egyptian antiquities, was ceded to the British and the Stone eventually arrived in London in 1802. It became one of the first Egyptian antiquities acquired by the British Museum.


It took another twenty years after its arrival in London before the decipherment of the hieroglyphics on the Stone was completed by Jean François Champollion. The role of the British scientist and polymath Thomas Young in the academic tussle that led towards its decipherment is a key element in the narrative of the British Museum's exhibition, Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt .


The Rosetta Stone is undoubtedly a trophy of war, transferred from the hands of its discoverer to the clutches of the victor. Some over-enthusiastic museum curator has even written on the Stone: 'Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801'. But it was never wrenched from the hands of Egypt by force. There are no compelling legal grounds why the British Museum should return the Stone, neither is there an overwhelming moral case for its repatriation. Several other stones bearing the same inscription are already held in Egyptian collections.


We understand why Egypt wishes to see this iconic emblem of its national identity returned. As the introduction to the British Museum's exhibition catalogue points out, the Stone's fascination "comes not from its visual form or even its content, but from what it represents". However, what it represents to the British Museum is of equal fascination and importance. The Museum has even named its grandiose new £1 billion refurbishment plan after it: 'The Rosetta Project'. Unfortunately for Egypt, there are many other objects in the Museum's collection where the moral case for restitution is far more pressing. The Rosetta Stone will have to take its place in the queue.


After this was written....

Since writing this article, the British Museum has dropped the title 'Rosetta Project' from its plan to upgrade the Museum's ageing gallery spaces. The project is now to be known simply as 'Masterplan'. No official reason has been given for this change, although it's possible that identifying the project with such a high profile contested object might have caused trustees to think again.


Photo courtesy of Getty Images



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