Restitution

'Don't expect us to be passive' in the face of restitution: British Museum chair defies return of looted artefacts

In speech at the annual trustees dinner George Osborne said that "dismantling" the collection "must not become the careless act of a single generation”

How an old postcard helped Jewish heirs retrieve their Kandinsky painting from a Dutch museum

The work, which has been in Eindhoven's Van Abbemuseum since the early 1950s, originally belonged to a collector who died in the Holocaust

Benin bronzes online database goes live with details of thousands of looted artefacts

"Digital Benin" catalogue gathers together information on objects stolen from the Kingdom of Benin and now held in collections around the world

Qatari sheikh’s rare ivory mask, stolen from Benin City by the British, is one of five on public display—none in Nigeria

The 16th-century mask was withdrawn from sale at Sotheby’s over a decade ago amid escalating calls for restitution

UK heritage minister says government has no plans to amend law that prevents museums from 'disposing' of objects

The 1983 National Heritage Act was debated in the House of Lords—but the issue of reform will be further discussed ahead of its 40-year anniversary in May 2023

Trove of Benin bronzes in US museum collections repatriated to Nigeria

The National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum marked the return of the sculptures with a ceremony in Washington, DC

Provenance database shines light on looted art in Bavarian collections

Munich-based foundation follows other German institutions in quest for transparency, disclosing ownership of 1,200 works acquired since 1933 with over 500 pieces flagged as "former Nazi property"

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss rules out deal with Greece over Parthenon Marbles

Move rebuffs George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, who proposed a new collaborative arrangement

King Charles III faces pressure to return sacred tabot—which symbolically represents the Ark of the Covenant—to Ethiopia

Westminster Abbey, which is directly under the monarch’s jurisdiction, currently refuses to return the holy tablet

Russia to take over Ukrainian museum collections as formal annexation plans announced

Putin's decree to permanently occupy four regions of Ukraine means thousands of artefacts will become property of Russia

Spain's Prado museum releases list of works with murky civil war and Francoist provenance

Up to 62 works in the collection, including paintings by Joaquín Sorolla and François Boucher copies, could be returned to their original owners under the current investigation

Poland demands Russia return seven paintings it claims were looted during Second World War

Putin’s international cultural envoy, Mikhail Shvydkoy, says Poland’s request has no legal grounds

Museumsanalysis

Berlin's controversial Humboldt Forum is finally complete—but 'the work inside begins now', German Culture Minister says

Twenty years since its conception and at a cost of around €680m, the new German museum must now follow through on its restitution promises

A 2,000-year-old Israeli coin minted during the ‘great Jewish revolt’ repatriated by US authorities

The coin, a Quarter Shekel valued at $1m, was looted in from Israel in 2002 and had been headed for auction before being recovered by US Homeland Security agents in 2017

V&A likely to return looted Asante gold treasures to Ghana

Museum’s director Tristram Hunt wants to loosen regulations on restituting artefacts seized by British forces in the 19th century

Greek artefacts from American billionaire's collection will be returned pending exchange agreement

The artefacts could be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before traveling to Athens

‘Return Rosetta Stone to Egypt’ demands country’s leading archaeologist Zahi Hawass

The former Egyptian antiquities minister leans into the current restitution conversation, calling again for the return of three prized antiquities from European museums

Nazi-looted art on display in New York museums must be prominently identified as such under new law

The new state regulation, signed into law by Governor Hochul, requires museums to install placards or other signage alongside works on view that were looted by the Nazis during the Second World War

The Getty Museum will return a set of illegally excavated life-size statues to Italy

The group of figures, known as “Orpheus and the Sirens”, is one of four artefacts the museum is repatriating to Italy based on new evidence

Horniman Museum in London hands over Benin bronzes to Nigeria

Major restitution development coincides with publication of new Arts Council England guidelines

Copies of the Parthenon Marbles—carved by a robot—to go on show in London

Project by Oxford’s Institute for Digital Archaeology fuels debate about restitution of controversial sculptures

Victoria & Albert Museum director says it is time to change UK law that stops museums from ‘disposing’ of works

Tristram Hunt aims to start a “conversation” about the act next year, arguing that some items should be allowed to be restituted or deaccessioned

‘The Benin Bronzes are returning home’: Germany and Nigeria sign historic restitution agreement

More than 1,100 looted items will be transferred though some artefacts will remain on loan to German museums

Victoria and Albert Museum returns—and reattaches—a third-century marble head of Greek god taken from Turkey

The head of Eros—which has been held by the London institution for 90 years—has been reunited with its sarcophagus at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Berlin announces several restitution agreements with Namibia, Cameroon and Nigeria

Berlin Biennale conference will focus on "decolonising" arts and culture

Duncan Ballantyne-Way. With additional reporting by Gareth Harris

What has happened to France’s grand plans to return Africa's heritage?

Five years ago President Macron took the museum world by surprise when he announced a then-revolutionary restitution plan. Now the country’s politicians are at odds about how to implement it

Britain’s major messaging failure on Parthenon Marbles

The UN says it has facilitated a meeting for British officials to discuss restitution with the Greek minister of culture, but Britain denies this

Was UK museum's Courbet landscape stolen in Nazi-occupied France for Hitler’s deputy?

Now in Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, a restitution claim for the work has been submitted to the Spoliation Advisory Panel