The Parthenon Sculptures are just a small proportion of the many other cases of disputed artefacts around the world. The countries that currently posses them rarely admit that these pieces are anyting other than legitimately acquired & owned.

From:
Pravda

Heritage, Loot or Booty?
07.02.2010

Western Museums are brimming with cultural heritage…from other countries. The Elgin Marbles are just one set of tens of thousands of artefacts looted from distant lands during colonial or imperialist times. However, the same desecration of cultural heritage continues. How many of the 13,000 artefacts stolen from Baghdad National Museum are today in the United States of America?

The list was drawn up and given to Vice-President Richard (Dick) Cheney before the first US or British soldier set foot in Iraq. It was a shopping list of archaeological treasures which the White House cronies wanted to see on their shelves in Rhode Island, in Maryland, in Virginia. UNESCO claims that when the Baghdad National Museum was looted in April 2003, 13,000 objects disappeared. How many of these are sitting in private homes in the USA?
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As the Cyrus Cylinder debate continues, the British Museum claims that it requires at least six months to study the newly found fragments. It is unclear though why it is necessary to do this now (and delay the already many times postponed loan), rather than wait until the cylinder is returned at the end of the loan period. Of course they could be assuming that others will have the same propensity to break promises as they do.

From:
Press TV (Iran)

London needs 6 months to study new cylinder pieces
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:27:00 GMT

The British Museum says it needs at least six more months to study the newly-found fragments of the ancient Cyrus cylinder.

The museum announced the discovery of new clay pieces in its storeroom, which seem to be copies of the Persian Cyrus cylinder, known as the world’s first charter of human rights.
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More coverage of the discovery of new fragments of the Cyrus Cylinder & the delays that it is causing to the proposed loan of the artefact to Iran.

From:
The Art Newspaper

Major discovery delays Cyrus Cylinder loan to Iran
British Museum says the finding of related texts is “very significant” but Iranian cultural heritage head threatening to cut cultural ties to the UK
By Martin Bailey | Published online 20 Jan 10

The British Museum’s (BM) loan of the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran has been delayed, because of a major discovery in London. Part of Cyrus the Great’s text has been found on two fragments of inscribed clay tablets.

The first fragment was identified on 31 December by Wilfred Lambert, a retired professor from Birmingham University, who was going through some of the 130,000 tablets at the museum. Although it had been seen by earlier scholars, no one had linked the text to the Cyrus Cylinder.
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The recovery of looted artefacts is often accompanied by many underlying political dimensions – both on the part of the party requesting return & of the current holders.

From:
Democracy Arsenal

March 02, 2009
Stolen Art and International Relations
Posted by Hanna Lundqvist

The looting of art and historical artifacts is often dismissed as a factor in international relations. Having studied art history in college and now working in foreign policy, I feel that when dealing with an issue portfolio that includes nuclear proliferation, war, economic crises, and global warming, the lower priority of art and culture is usually reasonable – however, this does not mean that the problem of looting should be entirely ignored, particularly because of the strong ties between art and national pride. Stolen art is not merely of concern due to the loss of object context for art historians and archeologists or cultural patrimony. Though usually rightly on the back-burner, looted art is a legitimate and often hot-tempered foreign policy issue.
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Greece is using some of the expertise that they have gained in the recovering of looted treasures to help Iraq to recover items lost in the chaos following the fall of Baghdad.

From:
Reuters

Greece to give Iraq money, know-how for museums
Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:53pm EST

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will give Iraq financial aid and expertise to help reconstruct its looted and war- stricken museums, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni said on Tuesday.

Iraq had thousands of priceless antiquities plundered after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Most were stolen from Baghdad’s National Museum or damaged in the war, while others were removed from poorly-guarded archaeological sites across the country.
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Ever since the fall of Iraq, the lawless nature of much of the country has led to unchecked looting of many of the world’s most significant ancient sites & museums. There have been notable efforts to recover artefacts though & seizures such as this let collectors & dealers know that such actions will not be tolerated.

From:
The National (UAE)

Iraqi antiquities seized in Dubai
Gregor McClenaghan
Last Updated: November 25. 2008 10:05PM UAE / November 25. 2008 6:05PM GMT

DUBAI – Customs officers have seized more than 100 looted Iraqi antiquities and artefacts as they were being smuggled through the emirate.

The objects, believed to be between 5,000 and 1,000 years old, will be displayed to the press today but officials declined to indicate beforehand how they were intercepted.
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The looting in Baghdad following the fall of Iraq has been a recurring topic in the news for the last few years. It is interesting, not least because it brings home to people the reality of many acquisitions from archaeological sites, which is probably far closer to the truth than the image of an English gentleman picking up a few select items for their country residence. Certainly, the latter happened – but in many cases it was preceded by the former more brutal style of acquisition.

Peter Stone and Joanne Farchakh have written a new book on the subject which is reviewed in The Times.

Also, I thought it worthwhile at this point though to mention a book by one of the key people involved in trying to unravel the current situation – Matthew Bogdanos who I met in Athens in March has been largely responsible for leading recovery efforts, first on the ground in Iraq & now from within the US as he tackles the international art trafficking networks head on. His book is available in paperback soon.

From:
The Times

From The Times
May 9, 2008
The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq by Peter Stone and Joanne Farchakh
Reviewed by Mary Beard
Bajjaly Boydell, £50; 352pp

THE TWO MOST FAMOUS words ever spoken by Donald Rumsfeld – “Stuff happens” – were given in response to persistent questioning in April, 2003 about the looting of Baghdad, including the National Museum. Rumsfeld did not have a clue what had happened to the 5,000-year-old Wark Vase, or the thousands of other antiquities that had been systematically lifted; nor did he much care.
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Four articles look at different aspects of the looting of museums & archaeological sites in Iraq, whether similar things could happen in the west, & whether more steps could have been taken to anticipate it.

The British Museum has been eager to help the situation – which is to be welcomed, but at the same time is slightly odd behaviour, as so many of the museum’s own artefacts were acquired through similar situation in the past. Despite this fact though, they continue to maintain that what happened in the past was perfectly acceptable, but that what is happening now in Iraq is to be condemned.

From:
Post Gazette

Looting of Baghdad treasures shines light on a ‘dirty business’
Sunday, April 27, 2003
By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The Byzantine frescos of Lysi, painted in Cyprus, kidnapped to Germany and now staring down from the ceiling of a museum chapel in Texas, testify by their travels that the world views much of its cultural legacy through a catalog of stolen property.

For nine centuries, the frescos hung unmolested on a small chapel in Cyprus before being cut from the ceiling by Turkish looters during the 1974 war. Ten years later, a Houston foundation, working with the Cypriot Orthodox Church, saved them and installed them in the museum chapel, where they are an example of the moral ambiguity of the antiquities trade.
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