Defying persistent calls for the return of looted artefacts, British Museum chair George Osborne says they are staying put, as Tom Seymour reports.
In pointed defiance of the growing movement across the international museum sector to return looted treasures to their original places of provenance, George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, has said contested artefacts currently in the London institution’s holdings will be staying put under his watch.
The former Chancellor of the UK government, who has been drafted in by current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to consult on further austerity measures, delivered the remarks at the British Museum’s annual trustees dinner on 2 November.
Osborne said: ”We hear the voices calling for restitution. But creating this global British Museum was the dedicated work of many generations. Dismantling it must not become the careless act of a single generation.” Osborne added he believed international courts were on the museum's side. “The law prevents it,” he later said, referring to the British Museum Act of 1963, which prohibits acts of restitution... Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.
In pointed defiance of the growing movement across the international museum sector to return looted treasures to their original places of provenance, George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, has said contested artefacts currently in the London institution’s holdings will be staying put under his watch.
The former Chancellor of the UK government, who has been drafted in by current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to consult on further austerity measures, delivered the remarks at the British Museum’s annual trustees dinner on 2 November.
Osborne said: ”We hear the voices calling for restitution. But creating this global British Museum was the dedicated work of many generations. Dismantling it must not become the careless act of a single generation.” Osborne added he believed international courts were on the museum's side. “The law prevents it,” he later said, referring to the British Museum Act of 1963, which prohibits acts of restitution... Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.