Η ΗΛΕΚΤΡΟΝΙΚΗ ΕΓΚΥΚΛΟΠΑΙΔΕΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

5.5 C
Athens
Τετάρτη, 12 Φεβρουαρίου, 2025

The ethics of the British Museum is once again called into question

The ethics of the British Museum
is once again
called into question

The theft and sale of approximately 2,000 objects from the British Museum, in whose warehouses they were “stored”, is an unprecedented
event in the history of museums internationally.

With the resignation of the Director of the British Museum Hartwig
Fischer, it was confirmed that the institution did not take the required
action, although it had been notified at least since 2021 that objects from its
collections were sold in online auctions. The fact that employees of the
Department of Greco-Roman Antiquities are allegedly involved in this case is of
further concern to Greece and archaeologists studying Greco-Roman antiquity.

The Administration of the British Museum must immediately provide the
necessary answers, not only to British citizens and the international
archaeological and museological community but especially to the Greek State and
its institutions, Greek public opinion, and Greek archaeologists. We note that
a list of the stolen antiquities has not yet been made public. It is required
to investigate whether the antiquities stolen and sold include Greco-Roman
artifacts.

Above all, however, the case of the stolen antiquities from the British
Museum raises once again ethical questions about the Museum itself, the way in
which its collections are assembled, and the way in which they have been
managed over time by the administration. In fact, the latter is burdened not
only by the fact itself, which makes a metropolitan museum a site linked to the
network of illegal trafficking in antiquities but also by the delay in
disclosing the case, with the resignations of its executives raising questions
about the attempted cover-up.

Greece and other countries from which the British Museum has looted
cultural treasures must step up their fight to recover these plundered
antiquities. The British Museum is deviating from ethics in the way it
assembles and in the management of its archaeological collections.

Given the timeless phenomenon of the sale of antiquities from the
British Museum’s Collections, it certainly puts our country’s righteous demand
for the return of the Parthenon sculptures and their reunification with their
birthplace, the Parthenon, on a completely different basis. Both Greek
archaeologists and public opinion in our country, we await the initiatives of
the Greek Government and the Ministry of Culture in this direction.

SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF GREEK ARCHAEOLOGISTS, 28.8.2023. ARCHIVES of
CULTURE
, 29.8.2023.

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