Category Archives: Cultural Heritage

Art Antiquity and Law – July Issue

Posted on: August 14, 2024 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The latest issue of our quarterly journal, Art Antiquity and Law, has now gone to press and hard copies should be in the post soon to subscribers. Digital subscribers will be able to access it via Hein even earlier. This issue contains several articles relating to the collections of art and artefacts contained in the […]

The Second Chapter of the Vitruvian Man Dispute and Other Developments in the Italian Cultural Heritage Framework

Posted on: June 24, 2024 by Chiara Gallo

Over a year and a half ago, the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC) won the dispute brought in front of the Venice Civil Court concerning the Vitruvian Man. In that instance, the Italian court held that the Vitruvian Man, an artwork created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1490, belonged to Italian Cultural Heritage and, as […]

The Journey of the Frescoes from the Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Spain) through Time

Posted on: May 28, 2024 by Andrea Martín Alacid

It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that Spain’s interest in its heritage began to awaken. A heritage that was ageing, reviled and unknown by many. Spain’s drive to protect its heritage at the beginning of the twentieth century resulted in extensive legislation on the safeguarding of historical heritage. Nevertheless, the regulatory […]

Bridging Cultures and Restoring Heritage: My Journey with the Lost Western Zhou Dynasty Artefact – Feng Xingshu Gui

Posted on: April 2, 2024 by Siyi Wu

In the captivating world of art restitution and repatriation, each artefact whispers tales of ancient times and distant lands, waiting to be heard. Among these, the story of the recently repatriated Feng Xingshu Gui (丰刑叔簋) stands out – a narrative not just of rediscovery but of bridging cultures and epochs. My tenure at the Art […]

What Next for the Stonehenge Tunnel Scheme?

Posted on: March 11, 2024 by Rebecca Hawkes-Reynolds

Stonehenge has been a permanent feature and place-marker on the landscape in Wiltshire for thousands of years. It has also a been a semi-permanent feature of headlines and as a topic on this blog. However this may soon no longer be the case, as  Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) have had their application for […]

Bonaire v. Netherlands: Climate Change Impacts on Island Communities’ Cultural Heritage Before Dutch Courts

Posted on: February 12, 2024 by Alina Holzhausen

Seven residents and Dutch nationals of Bonaire, a Dutch special municipality in the southern Caribbean, have launched, together with Greenpeace Netherlands, a legal action against the Dutch government over its failure to protect the Islanders against climate change impacts. Based on the right to life (Article 2) and the right to respect for private and […]

Anindilyakwa People Celebrate On-Country Return of Heritage Repatriated by Manchester Museum

Posted on: November 6, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson

The Anindilyakwa People will hold an on-country return celebration on Groote Eylandt on 21 November 2023 for 174 cultural heritage items repatriated from Manchester Museum. The repatriated cultural heritage items include 70 culturally significant dadikwakwa-kwa (toy dolls used by Anindilyakwa girls, decorated with ochre designs and cloth), seven errumungkwa (arm bands), a turtle shell map, […]

V&A Agreement with Yemen to Care for Ancient Objects Found in London Shop

Posted on: September 27, 2023 by Hugh Johnson-Gilbert

Last week the V&A announced that it had reached an agreement with the Republic of Yemen (‘Yemen’) to research and temporarily care for four ancient carved funerary stelae that had been discovered by an archaeology enthusiast in an interior design shop in East London. The museum’s announcement explained that the objects, dated to the second […]

Western Australia Scraps Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Laws Designed to Stop ‘Another Juukan Gorge’

Posted on: August 22, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson

The State of Western Australia is repealing laws it introduced “to prevent another Juukan Gorge”, after its reforms were labelled too prescriptive, complicated and confusing. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 (WA) (2021 Act) was enacted after 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal rock shelters were controversially destroyed by Rio Tinto during a mine expansion project in 2020. […]

The Heritage Decision Lottery: Stonehenge and the M&S building

Posted on: August 14, 2023 by Rebecca Hawkes-Reynolds

The month of July saw two opposing planning decisions being made with one thing in common: their subject and focus being designated heritage assets; Stonehenge and the proposed tunnel within its vicinity and the Marks and Spencer building on Oxford Street, London. Both of them highlight the complexity of dealing with heritage assets within the […]