Repatriation

Manhattan District Attorney's Office returns antiquities worth a total of $500,000 to Mexico

The trove of 30 Mesoamerican objects includes a ceremonial trophy for the first ball game

US authorities return antiquities valued at $10m to India

The repatriated artefacts—1,440 in all—included pieces that had passed through the New York galleries of Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener

A new study seeks to establish ethical collecting practices for US museums

The Penn Cultural Heritage Center’s three-year national study amplifies ongoing calls for transparency and will provide a collecting framework

The Met will study and catalogue 14 ancient sculptures recently repatriated to Yemen

With the country still in the throes of a civil war, the ancient sculptures were returned by a family in New Zealand but will be temporarily kept in New York

Repatriation of objects is on the government’s agenda, says UK culture secretary

Lisa Nandy's apparent support for repatriation reform has been welcomed by the head of London's Victoria and Albert Museum

National Museum of Denmark returns sacred Indigenous cloak to Brazil

The sacred artefact’s ultimate destination remains a subject of debate

A new online museum is sharing the histories of repatriated objects

The digital Museum of Looted Antiquities aspires to be an encyclopaedic repository on returned cultural artefacts—and to expose smuggling networks

Film review

New repatriation documentary chronicles Indigenous groups’ struggles to recover artefacts from collectors and museums

The Canadian documentary “So Surreal: Behind the Masks” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival

MFA Boston returns necklace that was likely looted from a tomb to Turkey

Investigations by both the museum's internal team and experts from Turkey's Ministry of Culture suggested the gold and carnelian artefact was exported illegally

American Museum of Natural History has repatriated more than 100 Native American human remains and 90 objects

The institution intensified its repatriation efforts after revised federal rules governing Native American remains and funerary objects went into effect earlier this year

Los Angeles museum repatriates 20 objects to the Warumungu people of Australia

The Australian government pays the major expenses of repatriation, making it easier for cash-strapped museums to engage with the often expensive and time-consuming process

More than 600 artefacts worth a total of €60m are repatriated to Italy from the US

Italian authorities are using artificial intelligence to identify works of art up for sale that may have been stolen or trafficked

Officials in New York return antiquities worth $14m to Pakistan

Some of the 133 objects being repatriated are associated with the antiquities smugglers Subhash Kapoor and Richard Beale

Chile returns 400-million-year-old fossils to Morocco

The 117 artefacts had been smuggled into South America within the past several years

US authorities return antiquities linked with notorious smuggling ring to Egypt

The Egyptian items repatriated by the Manhattan District Attorney's office this week, collectively valued at $1.4m, include a wood coffin face and a royal alabaster vase

Met Museum signs cultural-property agreement with Thailand and returns two statues

In a ceremony at the museum, Met director Max Hollein signed a "memorandum of understanding" together with a representative of the Thai cultural ministry

Crime news

US authorities return 30 antiquities recovered during trafficking investigations to Cambodia and Indonesia

The antiquities, collectively valued at $3m, include a bronze “Shiva Triad” from Cambodia that the dealer Nancy Wiener donated to the Denver Art Museum after failing to find a buyer for it

Getty Museum restitutes ancient bronze head to Turkey

More than a decade after Turkey asked for it back, the sculpture will finally be returned

US authorities return 38 antiquities to China

Even amid political tensions between the superpowers, officials from both countries emphasised the importance of continued collaboration on antiquities trafficking

Metropolitan Museum returns ancient Sumerian statue to Iraq

The museum’s latest repatriation comes as it ramps up efforts to audit the provenance of objects in its collection

Christie’s withdraws four ancient Greek vases amid concerns about their provenance and connection to disgraced antiquities dealers

The vases, which were estimated to sell for as much as $71,000, were pulled from a sale in New York this week

FBI returns 22 looted artefacts to Japan

A haul of historic objects looted following the Battle of Okinawa make their way home after almost 80 years

Two paintings that were stolen from Peruvian church are returned

Prior to their seizure, the paintings had been offered to the auction house Doyle for consignment

30 archaeological artefacts returned to Mexican authorities in Los Angeles ceremony

Objects ranging from the 1st century to the 15th century were handed over at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles earlier this month

Los Angeles museum repatriates Asante artefacts to Ghana

The Fowler Museum at UCLA has repatriated seven artefacts that were taken during the Sagrenti War of 1874

US authorities return a $3.7m trove of antiquities to Greece

Many of the 30 objects being repatriated are linked to the disgraced dealers Michael Ward and Robin Symes

The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand

The museum had been pressured and petitioned for years to return objects tied to smuggler Douglas Latchford

Philadelphia museum returns 16th-century manuscript to Peru

Federal investigators found that the six-page manuscript at the Rosenbach Museum and Library had been illegally removed from a larger volume

German authorities repatriate 75 ancient artefacts to Mexico

All but one of the items were voluntarily handed over by the Museum Schloss Salder in Salzgitter

US university museum returns five looted antiquities to Italy

Two of the objects will be handed over the Italian authorities, while three will remain on view at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta