Not long ago, I read the novel Huaco Retrato by Peruvian writer Gabriela Wiener. In its opening pages, the protagonist walks through the halls of the Wiener art collection — objects that one of her ancestors — a German obsessed with “discovering” the New World — had stolen from the ancient civilizations of Peru.
This plants the seed of the protagonist’s rejection of her own roots — roots tainted by abuse, violence, and theft. But aren’t all civilizations, in the end, shaped by one form or another of colonization?
The British Museum is one of the most important museums in the world and houses more than eight million objects from every continent. While it does contain a rich national heritage, it’s surprising how many of its works of art actually come from other countries.
In fact, the Ancient Egypt section is the most significant collection of its kind outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, boasting more than 100,000 pieces. How is it possible that a foreign museum’s Egyptian collection nearly rivals that of Egypt’s own?
One of the most iconic artifacts in the museum is the Rosetta Stone, inscribed in three ancient languages and dating back to 196 BC.
The stone was discovered by Napoleon’s army in the late 18th century and later handed over to the British. It is considered an invaluable treasure, as it was the key to deciphering hieroglyphs.
For that reason, both the Egyptian government and many archaeologists and historians have long demanded that the Rosetta Stone be returned to Egypt. However, the British Museum has refused, arguing that the stone is too important to remove from its collection.
And this is not the only controversy. Another high-profile case is that of Greece.
The British Museum is home to the Elgin Marbles — marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon in the early 1800s.
At the time, the Ottoman Empire still ruled over Greece and sought to maintain good relations with the British Empire, so it granted Lord Elgin, the British ambassador, permission to remove some of the sculptures.
However, once Greece gained independence, it began to demand the return of these cultural treasures. The situation has become almost surreal, with statues whose heads are in London while their bodies remain in Athens.
Greece has been demanding the repatriation of its artifacts since the 1980s, and in 2009, it even opened a new museum to pressure the UK. Yet so far, these efforts have been unsuccessful.
Another major group of historic artifacts housed in the British Museum is the Benin Bronzes, taken in 1897 from the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria.
At the time, the British had already begun colonizing Africa. In Benin, tensions were rising over British meddling in local affairs. After a group of Britons was killed, the British retaliated with overwhelming force: they overthrew the monarchy and plundered the kingdom’s cultural treasures.
Among their spoils were the 14th-century bronze plaques that chronicled the history of the Kingdom of Benin. Since gaining independence in the 1960s, Nigeria has been fighting to recover these pieces.
The British Museum has offered to “loan” them instead, claiming that the artifacts can only be properly preserved in its care.
A similar case involves Easter Island, which is part of Chile. In the mid-19th century, the British arrived on the island, now known as Rapa Nui, and removed one of its iconic moai, a monumental statue over five centuries old.
The statue was presented to Queen Victoria, who later donated it to the museum.
The people of Rapa Nui have been demanding its return, emphasizing that this particular statue holds deep cultural significance. The museum, however, insists that the artifact could not be as well preserved if returned to the island.
In each case, the British Museum has refused to return the artifacts, citing a 1963 law that prohibits the transfer or sale of any objects in its collection, except when it can no longer ensure their preservation.
Is there any hope for these countries to reclaim their archaeological treasures? Public pressure is growing. The Horniman Museum in London has already led the way, becoming the first British museum to repatriate some of its artifacts to their countries of origin.
