Turkey is planning on taking the dispute over the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Currently in the British Museum) to the European Court of Human Rights. This follows on from Turkey’s aggressive campaigning in recent months against various museums holding artefacts from Turkey, where the ownership is disputed.

From:
Guardian

Turkey turns to human rights law to reclaim British Museum sculptures
Dalya Alberge
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 December 2012 19.29 GMT

Human rights legislation that has overturned the convictions of terrorists and rapists could now rob the British Museum of sculptures created for one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

A Turkish challenge in the European court of human rights will be a test case for the repatriation of art from one nation to another, a potential disaster for the world’s museums.
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While its great to enable as many people as possible to see iconic ancient artefacts, I have a couple of issues with this. First of all, it seems that a loan to not one, but five different museums can take place with relatively little fuss – yet when it was loaned to Iran (the original owners of the artefact), it was a long drawn out process over a number of years involving threats of legal action and to withdraw other cooperation before finally they were able to receive it.

At the end, Neil MacGregor talks about Universal Objects – clearly, this is the next step on from the Universal Museum, which he is is so fond of. Clearly now, we can have objects, that by association of name, if nothing else, can only be displayed in Universal Museums and are no longer valid for consideration for return to their original owners. As with the Universal Museum concept though, the real issue though, as I have mentioned before, is that the museums claiming to fill this role are entirely self appointed to it. No international committee chose them for this, no others were involved in assigning them to this undertaking.

From:
New York Times

November 27, 2012, 7:00 pm
A British Museum Treasure Will Visit the United States
By CAROL VOGEL

The Cyrus Cylinder — one of the most famous objects in the British Museum — will travel from its home in London to five museums in the United States next year.

Often referred to as “the first bill of human rights” because its inscription encourages freedom of worship throughout the Persian Empire, it is a small clay object — not quite nine inches long — bearing an account, in Babylonian cuneiform, by Cyrus, the King of Persia of his conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C. The cylinder was found in what was once Babylon, now Iraq, in 1879 during a British Museum excavation and has been on display at the museum ever since. It is one of the most famous objects to have survived from the ancient world.
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The story of the Parthenon & how it ended up in the partially ruined state we see today fascinates many people. Lord Elgin played a clear part in the destruction of the building, but the British Museum continues to ignore any invitations to discuss the issue of the return of the sculptures seriously.

From:
San Diego Daily Transcript

Will Elgin lose his marbles?
By Larry Stirling
Monday, November 19, 2012

(ATHENS, Greece) — Wealthy Englishman Thomas Bruce, aka the Seventh Earl of Elgin, was appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1798.

Athens, indeed all of Greece, was then a part of it.
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For some months now, Turkey has been increasing their efforts to retrieve disputed artefacts held by foreign museums. Now, their Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay is requesting a dialogue with the Louvre over the return of various artefacts held by the French Museum.

From:
Art Daily

Turkey’s Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay wants talks with France on ‘stolen’ antiques
Friday, November 23, 2012

PARIS (AFP).- Turkey wants to start a “dialogue” with French authorities for the return of tiles and other antiquities on display at the Louvre museum in Paris, Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay said Thursday.

Saying the artefacts “were stolen at the end of the 19th century”, Gunay said: “We want talks to start between French authorities and the board controlling Turkish museums to work on the issue and take stock.
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Over the last couple of years, Greek Australian John Fardoulis has been carrying out archaeological excavations on the wreck of Elgin’s ship, the Mentor. The boat sank in a storm off the coast of Kythera, and at the time was carrying many of the Parthenon sculptures, although these were later retrieved by sponge divers from Kalymnos. The new excavations of the wreck site, have revealed some interesting artefacts that were in Elgin’s posession – although nothing so far that relates directly to the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Antiquities Found On Mentor Shipwreck
By Christina Flora on November 20, 2012

The underwater shipwreck excavation of the wreck of the ship Mentor, that sank off the island of Kythera in 1802 while carrying goods plundered from the Parthenon by British diplomat Lord Elgin has proved to be a treasure trove of personal items from the passengers and crew.

A greater number of coins were also found, at least two ancient silver coins which were antiquities acquired by Elgin, passengers or the crew,along with two gold coins, used as currency at the time, from the late 1700’s. Other coins were also recovered but require conservation before they can be identified. Some of these may also be ancient.
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Journalists around the world, seem to love drawing comparisons in cultural property cases – usually stating that the case in question is that country’s Elgin Marbles. This story below is not the first time I’ve read an article about Australia’s Elgin Marbles. Whilst the article makes interesting reading & the case is definitely worthy of consideration, I think we really should avoid making these comparisons so regularly, while at the same time archaeologists are arguing that each case is unique & should be judged on its own merits. The fact that one artefacts is disputed does not automatically make it a direct (or even close) equivalent to another case.

The other interesting point to note is that this case involves Australia – a country that has lead the way in securing the return of Aboriginal remains from around the world, but at the same time has many unresolved issues of its own to sort out too.

These cases often seem very different to the countries on the other side of them.

From:
The Global Mail

War And Pieces
By Paul DaleyNovember 9, 2012

A beautiful mosaic pilfered from the Palestinian front during World War I now hangs in Canberra’s Australian War Memorial, shoved awkwardly behind a newly built wall, testament to a growing national embarrassment. The mystery of Australia’s Elgin Marbles.

OVER THE YEARS I’ve spent many hours sitting in front of the Shellal Mosaic at the Australian War Memorial, pondering its creators and admiring its exquisite artistry. It is stuck to a wall and softly lit behind a vast pane of glass in what was once a prominent position in the Hall of Valour, which honours all Australian Victoria Cross winners.
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Donna Yates has made an interesting post on her blog about the latest developments in the long running case of the Spanish silver salvaged by Odyssey Marine. In the post, she also looks in ore detail into when an item becomes Cultural Property.

Read it here.

Two years after the agreement to return artefacts was made, and many years after Peru first started petitioning for their return, the final artefacts from Yale University’s Peabody Museum have returned to Machu Picchu. These final artefacts form the last part of an extensive restitution process of over 35,000 items that has been happening over the last year an a half.

From:
BBC News

13 November 2012 Last updated at 03:05
United States returns to Peru last Machu Picchu artefacts

The last of the artefacts taken from Machu Picchu by American archaeologist who rediscovered the Inca citadel have been returned to Peru.

More than 35,000 pottery fragments and other pieces were flown from Yale University to the Andean city of Cusco.
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Many of the cases of illegally trafficked antiquities occur across the borders of multiple countries. To unravel these cases, often requires the cooperation of various different national police forces. A new body intends to make this easier, encouraging cooperation between the law enforcement agencies, Interpol & UNESCO amongst others.

From:
NBC News

14th November 2012
New ‘intelligence’ body set to fight illicit trade in world’s priceless treasures
By Ian Johnston, NBC News

LONDON — Ancient statues from Nigeria and Cambodia, colorful cloaks from Peru, ceremonial furniture from Haiti before Columbus and clay tablets inscribed with writing thousands of years old: The illegal trade in looted cultural artifacts is vast, poorly policed and highly profitable.

But NBC News has learned that a new international body to gather “intelligence” about the illicit sale of some of the world’s most beautiful and historic objects is set to be established.
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Jennifer Neils, art historian & author of books on the Parthenon Marbles is giving a talk at Kalmazoo Institute of Arts today, on the issues that museums face when purchasing new artefacts for their collections.

From:
Kalmazoo Institute of Arts

Buying Antiquities Can Be a Tricky Business
Kalamazoo Art League Presents: Beyond the Elgin Marbles – The Cultural Property Debate

Buying antiquities can be a tricky business, and more than a few museums have fallen victim to nefarious dealers selling stolen or counterfeit works. Even if an item has been authenticated and was legitimately acquired, museums have had to face stark opposition from art historians and the public who believe these precious works should remain in the country of their origin, or not displayed at all. Learn why its important to research, authenticate and purchase from reputable art dealers at this month’s Kalamazoo Art League Lecture: Beyond the Elgin Marbles: The Cultural Property Debate

One such infamous case of cultural property was the removal of the “Elgin Marbles,” a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures, inscriptions and architectural pieces that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. During the excavation and display at the British Museum, the Elgin Marbles suffered damage and deterioration. Today, there remains a contentious debate over the legality of the excavation and the morality of removing them from Greece to be displayed in England.
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Nikki Georgopulos has written a very extensive piece for the Plundered Art blog about the man issues with Senate Bill S2212 (the Foreign Cultural Exchange Judicial Immunity Clarification Act). While the act gives the impression of helping the current situation, in reality it causes as many problems as it solves.

Her article is in two parts.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Trafficking Culture has recently added a new dictionary section to their website. This dictionary give concise explanations of a huge range of items relating to disputed cultural property. It seems from what I’ve seen so far, to cover a wide range of items – everything from the Euphronios Krater, to the Treasure Act in the UK.

Well worth looking at if you are interested in the subject.

The dictionary is on their website here.

They still need don’t have any entry for the Parthenon Sculptures though…