Glasgow to return looted items to India, Nigeria and representatives of massacred Lakota people in South Dakota, USA heralding the largest-ever repatriation of cultural artefacts. Rebecca Atkinson writes in the Museum's Association that Glasgow City Council has voted to return a number of cultural artefacts from its museum collections.

This includes the repatriation of seven Indian antiquities, in a move which is the first of its kind from a UK museum. Six of the artefacts were stolen from Hindu temples and shrines during the 19th century, while the seventh was illegally purchased, sold and smuggled out of India. All seven items were subsequently gifted to the city’s museum collection.

The council has also agreed to return 17 bronze Benin artefacts to Nigeria, having established that the objects were taken from ancestral altars at the Royal Court of Benin during the British Punitive Expedition of 1897.

As well as the repatriation of 25 Lakota cultural items that were sold and donated to the city’s museum collection by George Crager in 1892. Some of these items were taken from the Wounded Knee Massacre site following the battle in December 1890, some were personal items belonging to named ancestors, and the remainder are ceremonial items, all of which represent the belief, history and values of the Oceti Sakowin.

“The return of these objects from Glasgow Life Museums’ collection to their rightful owners represents the largest-ever repatriation of cultural artefacts from a Scottish museum and is a significant moment for our city – specifically, the repatriation of seven Indian antiquities is the first of its kind to India from a UK museum,” said Duncan Dornan, the head of museums and collections at Glasgow Life.

“By addressing past wrongs, we believe these returns will, in a small way, help these descendant communities to heal some of the wounds represented by the wrongful removal of their cultural artefacts, and lead to the development of positive and constructive relationships between Glasgow and communities around the world.”

Janet Suzman wrote to the Horniman Museum to congratulate Nick Merriman and his team for returning 72 Benin Bronzes. 

Yesterday, Monday 28 November saw the start of a new chapter in the history of the Benin bronzes in South East London too, and was celebrated by many.

These cultural artefacts were  looted from West Africa by British soldiers in 1897. London’s Horniman museum consulted its public, a wide range of people from museum members, and school children to the Nigerian community, and then announced this summer that it would be returning its Benin Bronzes. London’s Horniman museum signed over 72 of the bronzes yesterday and Janet Suzman wrote to the museum to say how elated the BCRPM was with this act of respect for the bronzes.

The news story was covered by many outlets including Channerl 4 News.  It was good to hear Nick Merriman, Director of the Horniman reflecting on the ease with which school children reacted immediately to the fairness of retuning the bronzes. And to also hear Ngaire Blankenberg, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, explain that there is more to embrace than returning these objects, that we need to look at power imbalances and everything that we do, as museums and institutions develop more collaborative relationships.

11 December 2021, The Guardian

Miranda Sawyer reviewing Radio 4’s Vice World News, The Unfiltered History Tour ‘which brings a fresh eye to favourite museum pieces’.

'Remember Radio 4’s The History of the World in 100 Objects, hosted by the former British Museum director Neil MacGregor? This is the flip side. The Unfiltered History Tour wants the British Museum to return certain artefacts (“stolen goods”) to the places they originally came from.' Writes Miranda Sawyer. 

This one was about the Easter Island statues. Islanders Sergio Mata’u Rapu and Tarita Alarcón Rapu, who are working to get Hoa Hakananai’a back. “For us, it’s not just a well-carved rock,” said Tarita. “It’s a living ancestor. Living.” Miranda goes back to listen to  the relevant 100 Objects episode (this Easter Island statue is at No 70). 'The contrast between MacGregor’s lofty, academic approach and the emotion of Sergio and Tarita was stark.'

She concludes: ‘Other episodes discuss the Benin bronzes, the Rosetta stone, and, of course, the Parthenon Marbles. There is much non-romantic true love for them all, and it’s hard to argue that these works should not be returned to where they resonate the most’.

Liam Kelly the Arts Correspondent for the Sunday Times reported that the Horniman Museum's decision to return 72 artefacts to Nigeria was a watershed moment that had arrived 'amid the Elgin Marbles wrangle'. 

"The unanimous decision by the Horniman’s board of trustees is a watershed moment: it is the first museum funded by the government to say that it will return its haul from Benin, which is now in Edo state, Nigeria. Nick Merriman, the Horniman’s chief executive, said the museum’s collection, which includes 15 brass plaques, a brass cockerel altar piece, ivory and brass body ornaments, will be transferred to Nigerian ownership after a request from the African country’s government in January."

"The move by the Horniman, which recently won the prestigious Art Fund museum of the year prize partly for its “Reset Agenda” that examined its colonial origins in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, may cause the trickle of repatriations to become a flood and raises questions about the fate of other contested objects, such as the 'Elgin Marbles' held at the British Museum. The controversy over the British ownership of Benin bronzes is second only to that of the marbles."

To read the full article in the ST, follow the link here.

And do read the press release from the Horniman Museum also. 

Plus on Channel 4 Newson 08.08

Can the British Museum rebrand itself? Historic institution is planning a £150,000 makeover after a string of controversies, writes Chas Newkey-Burden for The Week UK

The British Museum is facing an "omni-crisis" as it launches a £150,000 rebrand project following a series of controversies that have shaken its historical foundations.

"Beset by colonial controversy, difficult finances" and "the discovery of a thief on the inside", the institution is battling to "reframe itself" in the public eye, said The Guardian.

What did the commentators say?

"As the century turned", so did public perception of the British Museum, said The Art Insider. As well as one of the "largest collections of artworks, antiquities and collectibles", the museum also has "one of the largest collections of controversies". To "re-invent itself in a new light" means beginning by "righting the wrongs committed in the past".

In "the years of identity politics", criticism of the museum "coalesces" around the case for repatriating the Benin bronzes, looted by the British from Benin City's royal palace in 1897, and the Parthenon sculptures, the legality of whose removal from Greece by Lord Elgin has been "disputed" for centuries.

It's often claimed that "there'd be nothing left" in the British Museum if it "returned everything" that the UK "allegedly stole from other countries", said Euronews, but the claim is "hyperbolic". In reality, the "vast majority" of the items in the museum originate from the UK.

But the museum's "weak leadership" and failure to properly address the criticism has "done little" to rebut the claim, said The Guardian. Then, in 2023, it emerged that one of the museum’s staff members had allegedly stolen or damaged 2,000 items from the collection, shattering the "assumption" on which its "legitimacy rests" – that it "looks after the objects in its care".

The challenges are part of a wider debate about museums and their evolving role. "Once tranquil places of dusty scholarship", said The Telegraph, they're now "on the front lines" of the culture wars, "grappling with the most modern dilemmas" from "consent and ableism" to "looted artefacts and how to separate the art from the artist".

Read the full article in The Week.

We are all looking forward to a new chapter for the British Museum under the direction of Director Dr Nicholas Cullinan and there is hope for a brighter future.  Here's to a museum that embraces the future with moral and ethical values that best represent the twenty first century as it takes on a new vision with regards to cultural co-operation. And for those at BCRPM, here's to the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles as a sign of respect for the Parthenon, which still stands and crowns the ancient and modern city of Athens, Greece.

The Smithsonian Institution plans to return most of its collection of 39 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. A move following institutional review of its collection practices and the ethics behind them.

Read the full article in the New York Times, published 08 March 2022.

Is this not an important precedent for the British Museum to consider?