Posted on: May 19, 2016 by Alexander Herman
At long last… It was announced in the Queen’s speech yesterday that the UK Parliament would see the introduction of a bill to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. This is a positive sign and one that had been hinted at (with little more) by […]
Posted on: May 11, 2016 by Alexander Herman
An important piece of legislation, brought into force around the time of the UK’s accession to the UNESCO 1970 Convention in 2002, has at last been used as the basis for a conviction. The statute, the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, sets out an offence for dishonestly dealing in tainted cultural objects. The term ‘tainted’ for […]
Posted on: April 25, 2016 by Emily Gould
The launch event for the new Museums Code of Ethics took place at the Wellcome Collection last Friday, 22nd April. You would be forgiven for thinking that a Friday afternoon event to explore an ethics code might not be the greatest crowd-puller; but on this occasion, you’d be much mistaken. Almost 150 delegates came to […]
Posted on: April 20, 2016 by Emily Gould
It was heartening to read the report by Cahal Milmo in the i newspaper last week about the first application of the new Sentencing Guidelines for theft offences. The guidelines urge courts to take into account the special nature of heritage assets when sentencing offenders for theft crimes, giving official recognition to the devastating harm […]
Posted on: April 19, 2016 by Alexander Herman
Yesterday, IAL Senior Researcher Emily Gould and I were fortunate enough to be invited by Historic England‘s Mark Harrison to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Protection of Cultural Heritage meeting at the Palace of Westminster. This is the group launched last November, one of the priorities of which is to lobby within the UK […]
Posted on: March 31, 2016 by Emily Gould
The UK Government’s long-awaited Culture White Paper was released last week. It is over 50 years since the sector was last given the limelight in this way, so it was with baited breath that we nervously hit the download button. The message which runs through the paper is certainly positive and upbeat. It talks of […]
Posted on: March 25, 2016 by Emily Gould
Those in the museum sector may be interested in attending a forthcoming event at the Natural History Museum on the financial valuation of museum collections. The conference will take place on 22 April 2016 and is called For what it’s worth: Essentials of collections valuation. The wide-ranging programme looks both fascinating and highly practical, covering […]
Posted on: March 17, 2016 by Paul Stevenson
West Sussex-based marine consulting and operations company, Blue Water Recoveries, has announced the find of (probably) the Portuguese East Indiaman, the Esmeralda. Although not certain, it is thought to be very likely that the wreck, which lies off the coast of Oman, is the 500 year-old wreck of the vessel believed to have been commanded […]
Posted on: February 1, 2016 by Emily Gould
What do you do if you want to reproduce an artwork but have no idea who holds the rights in it? What options are available to the museum keen to create a new online resource of paintings, but with no record of who owns the copyright? Back in November 2014 we reported on two new […]
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 […]