Books
Geoffrey Robertson

Who Owns History

The biggest question in the world of art and culture concerns the return of property taken without consent. Throughout history, conquerors or colonial masters have taken artefacts from subjugated peoples, who now want them returned from museums and private collections in Europe and the USA.
The controversy rages on over the Elgin Marbles, and has been given immediacy by figures such as France's President Macron, who says he will order French museums to return hundreds of artworks acquired by force or fraud in Africa, and by British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has pledged that a Labour government would return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Elsewhere, there is a debate in Belgium about whether the Africa Museum, newly opened with 120,000 items acquired mainly by armed forces in the Congo, should close.
Although there is an international convention dated 1970 that deals with the restoration of artefacts stolen since that time, there is no agreement on the rules of law or ethics which should govern the fate of objects forcefully or lawlessly acquired in previous centuries.
Who Owns History? delves into the crucial debate over the Elgin Marbles, but also offers a system for the return of cultural property based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts. It is not a legal text, but rather an examination of how the past can be experienced by everyone, as well as by the people of the country of origin.
366 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2019
Publication year
2019
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
👍👎

Quotes

  • Mihai madalina Mihaihas quoted3 months ago
    * Austria relied on a state’s immunity from legal action, but the US Supreme Court, in 2004, decided that this case was an exception because Austria, after the war, had banned the export of looted artwork without government permission, thereby effectively expropriating them. See Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 US 677 (2004).
  • Mihai madalina Mihaihas quoted3 months ago
    crimes of colonialism – that must
  • Mihai madalina Mihaihas quoted3 months ago
    extending to other victims of the
fb2epub
Drag & drop your files (not more than 5 at once)