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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