<Updated 10/28/2021> British and French museums return cultural treasures looted during colonial times
It has been reported that “British Cambridge University and a French art museum have returned cultural artifacts that were looted from West Africa during the colonial period.”
This decision is expected to lead to further efforts by European art galleries and museums to return cultural property looted during the colonial period.
The colonial period had a major impact not only on history, geography, and the international system, but also on the distribution of cultural assets around the world. Colonial expansion spread from Western Europe to all parts of the world, so it is only natural that the collections currently held by major art museums in European countries are enriched by cultural assets brought from all over the world.
When British Prime Minister David Cameron visited India in 2010, he was asked if he would return the world’s largest diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, to India. The Prime Minister responded that if that were to happen, “one day we would find the British Museum empty.” Of all the territories that were colonized, Africa was particularly hard hit. Experts offer various figures, but it is estimated that roughly 80% to 90% of Africa’s cultural treasures are outside the continent.
The issue of returning cultural property from Western museum collections to colonies has been an issue for quite some time. In the 1960s, when the colonial system finally collapsed, the former colonies made requests to their former colonial powers to return it, but without any results at the time. For a long time, the consensus in Western countries was that the former colonies should be grateful for their liberation from colonial rule and, moreover, for being welcomed as full participants in the international system. There was no talk of the former colonial powers having any other material obligations or of returning the huge amount of cultural property that was taken from all over the world and put in Western museums hundreds of years ago.
When I went to London on a business trip, I was planning to go to the British Museum. However, a London resident of my company offered to show me around Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, etc. on Sunday, so I accepted his suggestion and was unable to go to the British Museum.
I visited the “Louvre” in France during my couple’s “Romantic Road” trip to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France.
By the way, I have always wondered how the vast collections of these museums and art galleries were assembled.
１．the British Museum
The British Museum, opened in 1759, is one of the largest museums in the world, with a collection of about 8 million items. Of these, approximately 150,000 are on permanent display.
The number of items in the collection is mind-boggling, and many of them are said to have been “donated by private collectors,” but of course there are also a small number of “looted” items from the colonies by the British Empire.
The origins of the British Museum can be traced back to the collections of antiquarian physician Hans Sloane. Later, King George IV donated the collection he inherited from his father in 1823, which led to the addition of the King’s Library.
There are many valuable artifacts that were taken out of the colonies during the British Empire, most of which are now independent, and would never be allowed to leave the country for cultural heritage protection or religious reasons.
As indicated in Yuriko Kuchiki’s book “Parthenon Scandal: The British Museum’s ‘Looted Artifacts’”, there are often campaigns for the return of the collection.
Because of these circumstances, the museum is derided by conscientious Britons as a “thieves‘ museum” or “robbers’ museum.
On the other hand, it is said that the centralized storage of many cultural properties from around the world in the British Museum has spared them from damage due to warfare, defacement or theft due to lack of protection and management in a proper environment, and has also made it easier to conduct research. This seems to me to be a bit of self-serving logic on the part of the British…
If Japan were to do such a thing, it is likely that the former colonies would continue their “looted art restitution campaign” and “compensation claims” relentlessly, but this has not been such a big issue with the British Museum.
２．the Louvre Museum
Opened in 1793, the Louvre is one of the world’s largest art museums as well as one of the world’s largest historical sites.
The collection consists of more than 380,000 items, with approximately 35,000 various works of art from prehistoric times to the 19th century on display.
The Louvre Museum is located in the Louvre Castle (Louvre Palace), built by King Philippe II of France as a fortress in the 12th century.
At first, the collection consisted mainly of paintings confiscated from royal and ecclesiastical estates, but as Emperor Napoleon I of France plundered art from many countries, the collection grew and was temporarily renamed the “Napoleon Museum”.
With the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the owners of the looted works of art, including Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy, demanded that France return them. However, the upper echelons of the Louvre Museum did little to comply, hiding many of the looted works of art amongst their own “private collections.
Angered by this, the nations sent envoys to England, which had won the Battle of Waterloo, to request their cooperation in returning the works of art. As a result, many works of art were returned, but some remained behind. Eventually, an “Agreement on Unreturned Looted Works of Art” was signed between Italy and France, and the matter was settled through exchange for another French collection and the payment of compensation.
The number continued to increase during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X and the Second Empire. During the Third Republic, the number continued to increase steadily through bequests and donations.
３．The Mystery of the “Rosetta Stone”
The Rosetta Stone is a stone monument with Greek and other inscriptions that was discovered in Rosetta, near the mouth of the Nile River, during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1799.
The same content is written in three stages in different languages (sacred inscriptions, ancient Egyptian script, and Greek script), and was later successfully deciphered by the French linguist Champollion.
The fate of the Rosetta Stone, if it had gone on as it was, would have been displayed in the Louvre Museum as a French “trophy of war. However, the French army was attacked by British and Ottoman forces in Egypt, and the French army was defeated.
Later, a dispute arose over the ownership of the archaeological and scientific collections discovered by France in Egypt, and the transportation of the cultural relics was to be a cooperative effort between the British, Ottoman Turks, and French. In the end, ownership remained in limbo.
Although the details of the circumstances are not clear, the British “confiscated” the “Rosetta Stone” as “spoils of war” in 1801, and it is now on display in the “British Museum.
In July 2003, when the British Museum celebrated its 250th anniversary, Egypt demanded the return of the Rosetta Stone. Similarly, Greece demanded that the British Museum return the Elgin Marble.
However, more than 30 major museums, including the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Pergamon Museum, have issued the following joint statement rejecting the return.
The things obtained in the past must be seen with the values and sensibilities of the past, which are different from those of the present. These museums are open not only to the citizens of one country, but to people from all over the world.
４．Japanese Collection
In general terms, it is very important to prevent the dissipation of “cultural properties, paintings, sculptures and other arts and crafts.
In Japan, two of the largest private collections are the “Ohara Collection” and the “Ataka Collection.
The “Ohara Collection” is housed at the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki City.
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka was built by Sumitomo Bank (now Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation), the main bank of Ataka Industries, which donated the Ataka Collection to Osaka City in order to prevent its dissipation.