Posted on: March 8, 2016 by Emily Gould
There is rarely a dull moment in the long-running saga of the Sekhemka statue, the rare Egyptian Old Kingdom sculpture controversially sold by Northampton Borough Council for £15.76 million in 2014. The piece had been displayed at the Northampton Museum and was sold by the Council to raise funds, incurring the wrath of the […]
Posted on: March 2, 2016 by Emily Gould
News broke this week that fourteen men have been convicted of plotting to steal artefacts from UK museums estimated to be worth up to £57 million. After a four-year police operation, the final four defendants – the ‘generals’ of the gang – were brought to justice at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday. They’ll be sentenced […]
Posted on: February 22, 2016 by Alexander Herman
Following the rejection of UNESCO’s mediation proposal by the UK government and the British Museum in March 2015, a Greek entity called the ‘Athenians’ Association’ has decided to bring an action seeking the return of the Parthenon Sculptures (or Elgin Marbles) before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg. According to last week’s press statement, the claim […]
Posted on: December 1, 2015 by Alexander Herman
There was a very interesting talk last night on cultural heritage and international law delivered by Roger O’Keefe, professor of international law at University College London. Prof O’Keefe’s paper, presented as the Harry Weinrebe Annual Memorial Lecture at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), was entitled ‘The Protection of Cultural Property, the Maintenance of International Peace […]
Posted on: November 18, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Officially launched last month, the UK’s Emergency Heritage Management Project will look to help preserve and recover cultural objects and edifices in Iraq that are under threat. In the words of the press release: “It will create a team of local experts to assess, document and stabilise afflicted sites in Iraq, and help begin the process […]
Posted on: October 27, 2015 by Alexander Herman
This is a short update on our piece from this summer about the export ban placed on the £15 million Sekhemka statue. While it may have seemed doubtful that a UK entity would be willing (or, more importantly, able) to buy the statue and keep it in the country, there does now appear to be interest in doing so. […]
Posted on: October 22, 2015 by Janet Ulph
A dispute over a highly attractive marble statue sparked headlines in the national press in early September 2015. It had been seized by Customs officers and kept in the British Museum for safekeeping during the legal proceedings. The District Judge, John Zani, had examined the statue there before coming to a decision that it had been […]
Posted on: August 2, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Just two weeks ago Austria ratified the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. This brings the tally of States Parties to the Convention to an impressive total of 129 (out of 193 countries in the world). The non-ratifying States include mainly those of South-East […]
Posted on: July 30, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
An interesting and in-depth article appeared last week in the New York Times about Subhash Kapoor’s antiquities smuggling operation. This involved looted antiquities that had been taken from a number of cultural and religious sites throughout India, then sold to unsuspecting buyers. These were buyers of importance, including the National Gallery of Australia, which had purchased […]
Posted on: July 1, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Last night BBC 4 aired a programme hosted by journalist Dan Cruickshank entitled Civilisation Under Attack, charting the impact of the Islamic State (or ISIS) on antiquities in regions under the group’s control in Iraq and Syria. The programme covered the destruction of the site at Nimrud and of objects in the Mosul Museum, and included a […]