Showing results 1 - 12 of 30 for the tag: Lewis Chessmen.

July 13, 2012

The British Museum is committed to loaning artefacts on a large scale – when it suits

Posted at 12:56 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

The British Museum makes much of its commitment to loaning out artefacts (both in the UK & overseas) – but this always happens very much on their own terms. In many of the cases of disputed artefacts – the ones that people most want to see in their original locations, the museum rejects loans, because of the fact that they can’t guarantee the return.

In the past, Greece has offered to loan other artefacts of equal value to the Parthenon Marbles – a form of collateral, which ought to satisfy such worries, but the museum still won’t consider their requests for a long term (or for that matter any length of) loan of the sculptures.

If some of the Lewis Chessmen can go back on a long term loan (a good starting point for perhaps more to join them one day), then why can’t the same happen to the Elgin Marbles?

From:
Guardian

British Museum vows to help regional collections through tough times
Loans of works to regional museums are part of vital support to struggling sector, says director Neil MacGregor
Mark Brown, arts correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 July 2012 14.46 BST

The British Museum has said that is loaning works to UK museums at an unprecedented level to help them weather waters that are likely to be choppy for at least five years.

Launching the museum’s annual report, the museum’s director, Neil MacGregor, spoke of “new kind of engagement” with museums across the UK to develop the sense of there being “one national collection, one community of scholarship”.
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June 15, 2012

More on the planned return of (some of) the Lewis Chessmen to Scotland’s Western Isles

Posted at 8:35 am in British Museum, Similar cases

Further coverage of the planned return on permanent loan of some of the Lewis Chessmen to a new purpose built exhibition space in Lews Castle.

It has been pointed out to me following my questioning of why this was happening now, that there is of course a referendum on Scotland’s independence from the UK coming up some time around the return date – which may well have had a bearing on the decision.

The British Museum has also announced a series of regional tours of other artefacts – increasing its lending programme (within the UK at least).

From:
Museums Association Journal

Lewis Chessmen to return to Western Isles
Rebecca Atkinson, 14.06.2012
British Museum also announces series of regional loans

Six of the Lewis Chessmen are to go on permanent display at Lews Castle, Stornoway, from 2014 as part of a loan agreement between Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) and the British Museum.

The medieval chess pieces will be displayed in a new museum funded by a £4.6m Heritage Lottery Fund grant and supported by National Museums Scotland (NMS) and the British Museum.
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June 14, 2012

Drawing comparisons – why long term loan is possible for the Lewis Chessmen, but not the Parthenon Marbles

Posted at 1:49 pm in British Museum, Elgin Marbles, Similar cases

Some further coverage of the British Museum’s plans to return some of the Lewis Chessmen to the Island of Stornoway in 2014 on a long term loan.

I find this story interesting for a number of reasons, as there are certain comparisons that can be drawn with the case of the Parthenon Marbles (although there are of course many differences). Historically, when Greece has requested the return of the Elgin Marbles, the British Museum has fallen back on the anti-deaccessioning clauses in the 1963 British Museum Act, which the institution is legally obliged to abide by. Greece in response has on various occasions suggested that the reunification of the Marbles could still be possible in the form of a long term / or renewable loan, whereby the British Museum would still retain the ownership rights, but the sculptures would be in display in Athens.

It has been suggested by some at the British Museum that such an action could not constitute a loan – that a loan can only be for a short term & that anything else is ownership be another name (& therefore forbidden under the British Museum Act 1963).

There are certain other difficulties however in the case of the Marbles. Previously, while Minister of Culture, Antonis Samaras, has insisted that Greece would not accept a short term loan of the sculptures (three to four months is a typical inter-museum loan duration), as such a move would acknowledge & legitimise the museum’s ownership of the artefacts. On top of this, the British Museum counters that acceptance by the receiving party of the Museum’s ownership of the artefacts in question are one of their standard terms that must be agreed to before they proceed with any loans. Greece has once indicated that it would accept ownership rights by the British Museum, but the statement was later retracted as having been a mis-quotation.

Now, it seems that despite the fact that the British Museum claims that there is no such thing as a long term loan, some of the Lewis Chessmen are now going to return on one. They are for that matter, not the only artefacts that have avoided the terms of the British Museum Act by taking the route of a semi-permanent loan.

So it would appear that there is good evidence, in multiple cases, that something described as a long term loan is a possible means of returning artefacts.

Now back to the similarities between the Elgin Marbles & the Lewis Chessmen (& also the differences).

Firstly, the Lewis Chessmen (at least the ones being returned to Scotland) are currently housed in the British Museum, with others in Edinburgh.

Secondly, a new museum has been built, to display the artefacts, countering the argument that there is nowhere to house them safely if they were returned.

The differences however, are that the Scottish are (I presume) acknowledging that the British Museum owns the Lewis Chessmen & tat only a few of the chessmen are actually returning – this is a small percentage of the total – and there don’t appear to be any plans to expand this loan, whereas Greek requests have been for all of the Parthenon Marbles that are in the Museum.

The Lewis Chessmen are not such a clear cut case as that of the Parthenon Marbles – they are loose items, that were probably in the process of travelling when they ended up in Lewis – there is nothing known to connect them to the island, other than the fact that it is where they were rediscovered. Indeed, arguments have been made that they rightfully belong in Norway. The Parthenon Marbles on the other hand, are part of a larger whole – the frieze panels themselves are not only like the pages of a book split between two locations, but were designed to form part of a work of architecture (the Parthenon) which still survives. On top of this, there is no suggestion that the Chessmen ended up in the British Museum illegally, unlike the contested details of the firman used by Elgin to validate his ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures.

So – on the basis of the existing cases, what does it take to get the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece? Does it all come down to acknowledging ownership? This fact has been a stumbling block with previous attempts to negotiate with the the British Museum. Or if the ownership was acknowledged, would the British Museum then fall back on other reasons for blocking the return – with the end reason being that it just doesn’t want to return them? Perhaps we should look at it as two interwoven disputes here – one over ownership & one over the location for display / reunification of the sculptures. One possible way out, is of course to bring (& win) legal action in a British or international court, over the ownership of the Marbles.

The other point to bear in mind, is that these terms might only secure the return of a small portion of the sculptures – although the hope if that if the return of a small portion was successful & the terms of the loan agreement were met, then te return of the remainder would follow as a logical conclusion to the process.

From:
Scotsman

At least six Lewis chessmen to return home after deal struck with British Musuem
Published on Wednesday 13 June 2012 22:09

SIX of the priceless world famous chessmen will feature in the permanent displays at the new Museum and Archive at Lews Castle when it opens in 2014 after a £13.5m revamp.

The chessmen will be on “permanent loan” to the new museum

Previously Western Isles MP Mr MacNeil has demanded the “repatriation” of the British Museum’s 82 priceless Viking chess pieces back to Scotland. Another 11 are in the hands of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
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British Museum to permanently return some of Lewis Chessmen to Stornoway in 2014

Posted at 12:58 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

After briefly returning to Scotland in 2010, some of the Lewis Chessmen are going to return on a semi permanent basis to the island where they were discovered. It is unclear how much SNP leader Alex Salmond’s demands for their return have led to this decision & moreover, whether the British Museum is getting anything in return for the deal. I am very interested to find out more details of the exact loan agreement that has been made.

From:
BBC News

13 June 2012 Last updated at 15:20
Historic Lewis Chessmen returning to Western Isles

Six Lewis Chessmen are to be displayed long-term at a new museum on the Western Isles, where more than 90 of the historic pieces were found.

An agreement has been reached between Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) and the British Museum.
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April 23, 2012

Hypocricy in Scotland over the return of cultural treasures

Posted at 12:44 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

Scotland regularly makes demands for the Lewis Chessmen to be returned from the British Museum – to Edinburgh. It tends to take a different approach though to cases that are entirely within the country – it becomes a cases that any location is good enough for the artefact, as long as it is in Scotland.

From:
Shetland News

Treasure hypocrisy
Friday, 20 April 2012 | Written by Shetland News

SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott has accused the Scottish government of hypocrisy over the St Ninian’s Isle treasure.

During Parliamentary Question Time at Holyrood, Mr Scott quizzed culture secretary Fiona Hyslop on the SNP government’s call for the Lewis Chessmen to be returned to the western isles from the British Museum.
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March 19, 2012

The closest the Lewis Chessmen got to their home

Posted at 2:01 pm in Elgin Marbles, Similar cases

Having worked their way through various museums in their current tour, the Lewis Chessmen are going to be put on display in the local museum in Uig, close to where they were found. The catch – they are only on display there for four and a half hours, and the exhibitions there will only include a small percentage of the total collection.

From:
BBC News

8 September 2011 Last updated at 11:48
Lewis Chessmen return ‘home’ to Uig Museum exhibition

Six Lewis Chessmen are to go on display at a museum close to where more than 90 of the historic pieces were found buried in a sand dune in 1831.

A knight, pawn, warder, king, queen and bishop will be on public display at Uig Museum for four-and-a-half hours on 13 September.
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November 29, 2011

The Lewis Chessmen visit Stornoway museum

Posted at 1:55 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

As part of their tour during which more of the collection is temporarily reunited, the Lewis Chessmen are now going on display in Stornoway – the closest that they have been to the location that they were first discovered.

From:
BBC News

15 April 2011 Last updated at 00:29
Lewis Chessmen exhibition opens in Stornoway museum

Some of the historic Lewis Chessmen have gone on display on the island where they were found more than 150 years ago.

More than 30 of the 12th Century pieces are being shown at the exhibition at Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway.
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October 23, 2010

Lewis Chessmen – or Icelandic Chessmen?

Posted at 4:59 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

More coverage of the research that suggests that the Lewis Chessmen may have originally been carved in Iceland. The relevance of this is of course the fact that the British Museum likes to refer to them as Norwegian Chessmen (to avoid claims for return to Scotland), yet it is clear that nobody knows for certain where they are from originally – in the case of theses objects, their home (inasmuch as it plays a part in their history) has to be seen as the place they were discovered, not the place (now long forgotten) where they originated. Either way, the British Museum should see itself only as a temporarily custodian, rather than the rightful owner.

From:
Scotsman

Mum’s gone to Iceland for Lewis Chessmen
Published Date: 11 September 2010
By JOHN ROSS

BEHIND the great men, there could be a talented woman. Or at least that’s the latest theory about the origins of the iconic Lewis Chessmen.

The Lewis Chessmen, carved about 800 years ago mostly from walrus tusks, had previously been considered of Norwegian origin Picture: PA
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Where do the Lewis Chessmen come from?

Posted at 4:38 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

The British Museum has in the past been eager to argue that the Lewis Chessmen are from Norway & therefore neatly bypass any connection that they might have with Scotland (the place where they were discovered – no records exist of them prior to being found on a Hebridean beach in 1831. New research suggests that the British Museum’s statement may be incorrect though & that the chessmen possibly originated in Iceland..

From:
New York Times Blogs

September 7, 2010, 12:30 pm
A New Theory on the Origin of the Lewis Chessmen
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

The Lewis Chessmen are the most famous and important chess pieces in history. They have a long historical and scholarly record, part of which is that they were made in Norway roughly 800 years ago. But now two Icelandic men are challenging that belief and trying to prove that the pieces came from their country.

The pieces were discovered on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in 1831 — hence their name. Carved mostly out of walrus tusk, they were found in a small carrying-case made of stone inside a sand dune. There are different theories about how they ended up there, including that they were left over from a shipwreck or that they were stolen and buried on the island and then forgotten.
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October 20, 2010

Looking at the Lewis Chessmen

Posted at 8:35 am in British Museum, Similar cases

Some of the Lewis Chessmen from the British Museum are temporarily on display in Scotland. Their contentiousness however can distract from what the pieces actually are & represent in their own right. Like the Parthenon Sculptures, they are in part famous purely for their recent history.

The Atlantic

The Lewis Chessmen, Up Close
Aug 19 2010, 10:55 AM ET

Today, for the first time, I got to see some of the magnificent Lewis chess pieces first-hand, in Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland. I wrote about them in my book The Immortal Game (excerpt below) but until today had not yet seen them in person. Most of them usually reside at the British Museum in London.

They are 78 figurines, comprising four not-quite-complete chess sets, hand-carved from walrus tusk and whale teeth near Trondheim, Norway around 1150, but discovered seven hundred miles away in 1831 in the Bay of Uig on the Scottish Isle of Lewis.
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September 21, 2010

Ten things you didn’t know about the Lewis Chessmen

Posted at 1:07 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

An interesting article about the Lewis Chessmen – although by my count there are nine facts in their list, not ten. Some of the points (such as the fact that there is no basis for their repatriation) are somewhat contentious however.

From:
Independent

Ten things you didn’t know about the Lewis Chessmen
By Malcolm Jack
Thursday, 24 June 2010

The Lewis Chessmen Unmasked exhibition in Edinburgh brings together the British Museum and the National Museum of Scotland’s collections of the Lewis Chessmen – a set of medieval gaming pieces, originating most likely from Trondheim in the 12th or 13th century, which were discovered on the Hebridean island of Lewis sometime between 1780 and 1831.

Individually hand-carved from walrus ivory, and numbering 93 pieces in total – 82 of which are held by the British Museum, the remaining 11 by the National Museum of Scotland – the Lewis Chessmen are world famous for their mysterious origins, unique design and curious, almost comical expressions, which range from moody kings to a frightened-looking warder biting down on his shield. They even made a cameo in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
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September 16, 2010

Western Isles MP thinks Lewis Chessmen may be returned

Posted at 8:07 am in British Museum, Similar cases

Western Isles MP, Angus MacNeil, states that the talks he has been having with the British Museum regarding the Lewis Chessmen have been very positive – the implication of this (based on MacNeil’s previous comments about the chessmen) suggests that he now believes there is a reasonable chance that they may be returned to the Western Isles.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 13:16 GMT, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 14:16 UK
Lewis chessmen could be returned

Talks to return at least some of the Lewis chessmen to the Western Isles have been described as “very positive”.

The area’s MP Angus MacNeil made the comment following a meeting with the deputy director of the British Museum, where 82 of the chessmen are housed.
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