Government tightens process for artefact restitution
As debate around the restitution of museum artefacts rumbles on, the UK has limited the leeway public museums have to return objects. Angelica Villa reports.
The UK has altered a restitution law while still keeping intact a requirement that museums seek government approval for international returns of artifacts.
The law, which was first rolled out in September 2022, gave more power to trustees of major national museums to return objects, granting them the ability to seek approvals for repatriations on “moral” grounds—even in cases where the museum’s own policies had previously barred them from doing so. In other cases involving less valuable objects, the law stipulated, trustees wouldn’t have to seek the UK’s charity commission’s approval at all.
The latest addition limits the amount of leeway public museums have in processing the returns of certain objects that are subject to restitution claims from other countries...Keep reading on Art News.
The UK has altered a restitution law while still keeping intact a requirement that museums seek government approval for international returns of artifacts.
The law, which was first rolled out in September 2022, gave more power to trustees of major national museums to return objects, granting them the ability to seek approvals for repatriations on “moral” grounds—even in cases where the museum’s own policies had previously barred them from doing so. In other cases involving less valuable objects, the law stipulated, trustees wouldn’t have to seek the UK’s charity commission’s approval at all.
The latest addition limits the amount of leeway public museums have in processing the returns of certain objects that are subject to restitution claims from other countries...Keep reading on Art News.