Call for return of looted antiquities to India
In July 2024, on the side-lines of the 46th World Heritage Committee, at New Delhi, India and the United States signed the first ever ‘Cultural Property Agreement’ to prevent and curb the illicit trafficking of antiquities from India to the USA.
During the recent visit of PM Modi to U.S., 297 antiquities were handed over to India.
This takes the total number of antiquities recovered by India since 2014 to 640. The total number of antiquities returned from the USA alone will be 578. This includes the exquisite bronze Nataraja statue from the 12th century CE.
In contrast Between 2004 to 2013 only one artefact haseen returned to India.India’s successful recoveries extend beyond the USA, with Australia returning 40 of the artefacts bought by them from “thieves”.
Though the biggest looters of India the British have returned only 16 artefacts so far. The biggest Chorbazar of te world still proudly display numerous Indian stolen / looted artefacts.
The spectacular achievement over the last ten years demonstrates the government’s resolve to reclaim India’s stolen treasures and preserve its cultural heritage for future generations.
PM Modi’s personal bond with global leaders has played a pivotal role in securing these returns. His proactive approach has led to the recovery of significant artefacts, including revered sculptures and idols, reaffirming India’s cultural identity. Calls from non-Western countries for the return of objects stolen during the colonial period have intensified in recent years.
Dr. Zahi Hawass (Hawass), a well-known Egyptian archaeologist and former minister of tourism and antiquities of Egypt, recently launched a petition demanding the repatriation of the iconic 3,400-year-old Bust of Nefertiti to Egypt, which is currently housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany.
The petition also calls for the return of the Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum, and the Dendera Zodiac in the Louvre in Paris. “If we meet any resistance from these governments, it will be a real shame,” said Hawass in an interview with Global Times (GT) reporter Wang Wenwen in her Insight Talk program. He shared his views on the significance of this movement and the trend of non-Western countries calling for the return of looted artefacts.
In May, 2024, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York returned two ancient artefacts to Thailand: a bronze sculpture of Shiva known as Standing Shiva, also referred to as Golden Boy, and a smaller sculpture called Kneeling Female.
According to a Turkish media report in April, 2024, Turkish authorities have orchestrated the return of 12,135 smuggled historical artefacts over the past 22 years, with the country gearing up to welcome back more than 8,600 cultural treasures.
Later that month, France returned more than 8,500 ancient coins to Turkey. These coins had been seized from a private individual in central France, as it was found that he had illegally imported them.
In April, 2024, 38 artefacts were returned by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to China, as China’s relentless quest to retrieve lost cultural relics from overseas has received a significant boost.
In August, 2023, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand formally asked the Denver Art Museum in Colorado to return eight pieces that were looted from temples and historical sites.
In May, 2022, a Nigerian man, Chidi Nwaubani, launched a project called “Looty” to reclaim African artefacts stolen by European colonizers by creating 3D images of them, selling them as non-fungible tokens and using the proceeds to fund young African artists.
In April, 2022, a French private collector handed over an ancient Mayan stela after the artefact was flagged by Guatemalan authorities in 2019 as being a piece that disappeared from Piedras Negras, an archeological site in the country’s northwest, in the 1960s.
In January, 2009,Egypt formally asked Sweden for the return of 212 artefacts taken out of Egypt by a Swedish collector in the mid-1920s.
There is an awakening among the people in Europe about the stolen artefacts from Asia and Africa. And even (French) President Emmanuel Macron said we have to return these artefacts.
The return of the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin, the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum and the Dendera Zodiac from the Louvre are long outstanding demands.
Each piece has a story. The Bust of Nefertiti was taken out of Egypt in 1913 by [German archaeologist Ludwig] Borchardt. The Rosetta Stone was taken by the French and given to the British.
How can you give a gift to someone that is not yours? The Dendera Zodiac was taken out of the ceiling of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera. There are evidence that the three pieces left Egypt illegally.
These pieces are icons of Egyptian identity. It is because of the Rosetta Stone that historians were able to understand the Egyptian language.
The Dendera Zodiac is very important. The Bust of Nefertiti is the most important piece of art, and its home is Egypt, not Germany.
Many people from Germany, Britain and France are themselves funding this campaign. And this is why this campaign is going to be very successful soon.
Every museum has thousands of Indian, Egyptian and Chinese artefacts. These countries are not asking for all these artefacts to come back.
They are asking for only historical pieces to be returned because their home should be their national Museums and not the museum in Berlin or the British Museum or the Louvre.
All these objects were stolen during imperialism. All these heritage, artefacts, are shown in museums everywhere.
It is not fair that the heritage of India, China and Egypt and others could be shown in these museums, as most of them were taken illegally from these countries.
During imperialism when the British and the French conquered India and Egypt, they took these heritage by force, and museums until today practice imperialism by buying stolen artefacts.
When museums buy stolen artefacts, they ruin the heritage of these ancient civilizations. They encourage thieves to go and steal artefacts because museums pay a lot of money for them. it’s time that these museums stop imperialism.
The rest of the world is waking up to the fact that most of the artefacts have been stolen from other countries. Countries that have had artefacts stolen should cooperate and hold a conference for these artefacts to be returned.
