Restitution

Germany to replace Nazi-loot advisory panel with binding arbitration

The changes will allow Germany to better meet its commitments under the Washington Principles, the country's culture minister says

Most countries have made little to no progress in returning Nazi-looted art, report finds

Only seven nations have made major inroads in recovering property seized during the Holocaust, according to the World Jewish Restitution Organization

Art Institute of Chicago accused of holding onto Nazi-looted Egon Schiele

The museum insists that heirs to the original collector waited too long to file their claim for the valuable work on paper

Auctioneer withdraws looted shield from sale after restitution request from Ethiopian government

Ethiopian Heritage Authority asked to contact vendor to request restitution of battle trophy taken following British expeditionary force's punitive siege of Maqdala in 1868

British Museum accused of silencing critics after being targeted on social media to return Easter Island statues

The museum switched off comments on one of its Instagram posts after it was flooded with calls for the restitution of the moai objects

British Museum interim director backs Parthenon Marbles loan plan with Greece

Mark Jones also says BP deal is the ‘right one’ and announces recovered items show

'An exciting new model for repatriation': rotating display of Cycladic treasures, on loan from Greece, debuts at the Met

An innovative agreement between the Metropolitan Museum, American businessman Leonard N. Stern and the Greek government led to the new display of 161 Cycladic antiquities at the New York museum

US university museum returns Nazi-looted painting to rightful heirs

The Ackland Art Museum restituted a painting taken from a prominent Jewish collector via Nazi coercion

Two more Egon Schiele works restituted to heirs of Holocaust victim will head to auction

The two works on paper once belonged to Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian cabaret performer who was killed in the Holocaust

US court rules Nazi-looted Pissarro painting belongs to Spain

The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals leaves the heirs of Lilly Cassirer with few options to pursue their restitution claim

German culture minister implements changes to ease restitution of Nazi-looted art

But her most important reform proposal faces opposition from the state of Bavaria

The Parthenon Marbles and the myth of the slippery slope

There are some very spurious arguments coming from those resisting the return of the marbles to Greece

Alexander Herman

Mongolia mulls restitution claims after identifying objects held abroad

Country’s culture minister calls for research into artefacts held by British institutions and also announces a Royal Academy show

Nazi-looted Dutch Golden Age painting returned to Goudstikker heir

Latest restitution of work by Cornelis van Haarlem is part of years-long campaign to reunite works with family of Dutch-Jewish dealer

France simplifies law on restitution of human remains

The prime minister can now approve the return of remains of up to 500 years old, without having to pass a special law

Twenty-five years later, landmark Nazi loot rules still shape restitution fights

The Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, released on 3 December 1998, are non-binding but nevertheless continue to enable the pursuit of justice

Antiquities worth $1m, including a piece tied to trafficker Subhash Kapoor, returned to Nepal

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office linked one of the works to Kapoor; another had been in the Rubin Museum’s collection

Diaryblog

British Museum ends the year as the butt of the joke

The annual Christmas cracker joke competition by the British TV channel Gold took a swipe at the theft scandal that rocked the institution

Museums and heritage in 2023: War, theft and quakes

From the theft of artefacts at the British Museum to a hammer attack on Velázquez’s “The Rokeby Venus”

Parthenon Marbles row deepens after Rishi Sunak cancels meeting with Greek prime minister

The snub comes after Kyriakos Mitsotakis raised restitution issue with Labour leader Keir Starmer

Swiss government approves panel to assess claims for art acquired in Nazi and colonial eras

New panel is to find “fair and just solutions” for disputed works in museums

Technologyfeature

Can digital technologies help to resolve debates on restitution?

Many believe new applications—from AI and NFTs to 3D scanning—are game changing in returning objects to source communities. Lawyers say they can make the process harder

Jewish cabaret artist’s heirs file suit for return of 12 works by Schiele

Vienna museums sued for return of works held by collector murdered in Dachau

Bavaria recovers a Baroque painting with help from the FBI

The landscape was in the possession of the family of an American soldier who had served in post-war Germany

Dutch dealer returns Weenix landscape stolen in the Second World War to Dresden museum

The painting, acquired by Augustus III, hung in a Soviet general’s home after the war

What will German monasteries do with colonial-era objects in their collections?

Wide-ranging nationwide survey will catalogue artefacts held by monasteries and convents that were collected by missionaries in Africa, Asia and South America

Egon Schiele works recently restituted to Holocaust victim's heirs head to auction

Christie’s will offer six of the seven pieces by Schiele that were restituted to heirs of Fritz Grünbaum last month during its November sales in New York

Booksreview

Contested prospect: two new books see the Parthenon through the eyes of a legal expert and a lifelong scholar of Greek history

The great temple to Athena has emerged from the vicissitudes of earthquakes, war, looting and rebuilding to be caught up in a monumental restitution debate