The Cultural Heritage Of The Museum

In December 2002, the directors of 18 museums located throughout Europe and the United States issued the Declaration of the Importance and Value of Universal Museums. The declaration is an attempt, by the directors of major Western museums, to defend against demands for restitution of museum objects by defining themselves as “universal museums” which are of value to all of humanity. This document fails as a convincing defence against restitution claims for several reasons. First, it dismisses circumstances of older acquisitions without considering the ethics or legality of surrounding the acquisition. Second, while it pronounces these museums “universal,” it approaches this from a distinctly Western perspective and perpetuates colonial and imperialist ideas. Finally, it ignores important debates that are occurring between and within scholarly, professional, and activist communities.

In the last decades, the repatriation of art and cultural heritage has become a controversial issue. This issue has received great attention from the public, international law and the press. Should cultural object taken by a country or nation remain with that country or should it repatriated? Art repatriation refers to the returning of cultural artifact to their original owners. (Roehrenbeck,2010). Cultural treasures represent the civilization of a nation or group of people which reflect the religions, values and ideologies. (Zhong,2014)

These issues with museums and other institutions has led many tribes to not only protest these collections and demand the most sacred items back, but to also develop their own institution that not only tell the real story of their people from a non scientific point of view, but also show the proper resect for the sacred and religious artifacts. Religious sights and objects are a piece of many different groups culture, many of which require a certain level of respect. Within the United States Native American groups are reclaiming these objects for their own

Countless art has been sought-after throughout history. Explorers, scientists, art collectors, politicians, and entrepreneurs from Western nations have sought out and removed art from the lands of great civilizations, often with the assistance and participation of local people and governments. Even as cultural property faces immediate danger today in conflict zones like Syria and Mali, there is circumstantial evidence that some nations are awakening to the political and foreign policy benefits that can flow from the repatriation of cultural patrimony. While on a different scale from World War II, historic structures, religious monuments, and other priceless ancient times continue to suffer collateral damage and manipulation in armed conflict. Relics have been stolen, smuggled and sold in what is a reported multibillion dollar underground market. They have become the illicit prizes of private collectors and the subject of legal claims against museums. Of the countless museums subject to legal claims, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City happens to be one of them. “The Metropolitan Museum has acquired thousands of works and objects of art from the antiquities”. “For the past several years, the government of Turkey has warned U.S. and foreign museums (including The Metropolitan Museum of Art), that unless ancient objects from Turkish soil are given up on demand, Turkey will stop lending artworks” (The Committee for Cultural Policy, 2015). Turkey continues to up the

It is very unsafe to transport very valuable artifacts, and to travel to see them in run down areas. According to Ms. Maniscalco “I don’t think it’s up to me to create tourist itineraries, but I can complain about the closed roads. Why aren’t they fixed? These are political problems” (Donadio). This also supports the point that artifacts should not be returned because the artifacts may get broken and not be worth what they were before they were broken. Another example would be that, “These treasures await those who make the sometimes difficult journey”

When we study old cultures we learn how people adapt to their environment and cope with natural disasters. We learn how patterns of immigration affect languages and why civilizations thrive or die out. Studying the remints of culture, help us understand how people lived long ago, and helps us understand our own civilization. However, not all of the world heritage sites are ancient ruins; also included are Australia’s modern Sydney Opera House, the Tower of London, in England, The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, and other recognizable structures. These are all impressive places of outstanding value to people around the world.

From what I learned from the past assigned readings and class discussions, one of the difficult decisions that museums have to make is do they return their objects/artifacts back to their original countries or cultural group. This issue is an ethical dilemma because, would it be the museum to legally keep the objects because of their belief that they can protect and use these items (Warren 1999: 1-20). Or, would it be ethical for the museum to return the items that were previously removed from their country or place of origin. Based on my lecture notes and discussion for this week’s class, one of the ways which many countries and cultural groups are able to acquire back their objects/artifacts legally is through the process of restitution and

On March 19, 2003 Baghdad was under fire. Three weeks later, American tanks roll into the Iraq capital scenes of triumph replaced by chaos. The US Military wasn’t prepared for citywide civilian crisis and eventually everything went up for grabs—even the treasures of the Iraq museum. The Iraq Museum have object materials from about half a million years ago – carvings, statues, and pottery. All the archaeological data was housed

The world is full of history and the past is just as important as the present. Across the globe there over a thousand sites recognized by UNESCO. These sites show history from different time periods, countries, and cultures. They have helped us discover new things we never knew about history. This essay will discuss three different sites found on UNESCO. (UNESCO, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/&order=country)

Good morning fellow UNESCO leaders. Terrorist organizations are rallying forces and destroying ancient sites that offend/ Challenge their religion. Do we want ancient sites to share the same fate that the 2 Buddha’s had faced in Afghanistan. The valuable site that we must protect and preserve is Persepolis.

Once you take away a historical artifact from its original place, it is no longer historical. Though Dr. Hawass states that a nation keeps legal documentation to keep the artifact valuable and keep its culture (A Case In Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’), the local people of where that artifact originated should get to view the artifact before anyone else. Those cultural artifacts are a huge part of their identity and

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is committed to conserving and protecting the naturally and culturally significant sites of the world. A world heritage site is a place that is culturally or environmentally significant to the world. The World Heritage Convention, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972, puts together both the preservation of nature and the preservation of sites that are culturally significant to society. The idea for this convention came after UNESCO was involved in rescuing the Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt. The building of the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood the valley and destroy the ancient temple. UNESCO launched an international campaign to save the temple and the temple was eventually dismantled, moved, and reassembled in a location safe from flooding. Fifty countries donated to the campaign, raising nearly half of the cost of the operation. The convention was adopted a few years later so that the states parties could join together to protect the world’s natural and cultural heritage. The convention also provides access to the World Heritage Fund to help fund the states’ efforts in identifying and preserving sites.

Museums are the most used in preserving history and culture. Artifacts can be stored there while allowing the public a chance to view the artifacts. During the time that the artifacts are there, historians continue research on their finds to better understand items’ past. However, the process can stop due to illegal selling and trading in the black market.The black market allows collectors to buy artifacts from sellers who steal them from museums and excavation. In countries that have corrupt governments,, the amount of items stolen are higher . From the NPR podcast, thieves are becoming huge threats to Iraqi museums, not to mention during the ongoing war there. Some artifacts are destroyed, but their mostly stolen which leaves unanswered questions

Artifacts are not just important to where they came from. It is also important for other societies to gain knowledge about the culture the artifact is from. Countries would be fueled by ignorance if they didn’t have knowledge of the past and of other countries cultures. This is supported by a claim that James Cuno made in “Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin.” Cuno believes that museums should collect art from the world’s diverse cultures through purchase or loans and work in collaboration with museums and nations around the world.

The return of the Parthenon Marbles is not the first case of a museum returning artworks to their country of origin; in fact the Wright Brothers’ aircraft and the Ethiopian Manuscripts are a few which have been returned (6). The side for returning the sculptures argues that the return of these objects did not disrupt or change big museums (6). It is not a matter of preserving and keeping big museums the center of the world, it is a matter of ethics and giving countries what is rightfully theirs. The opposing side argues that if the Parthenon Marbles were removed from the British Museum, museums all over the world would be forced to return other artworks from where they originated (5). They argue that the concept of a museum, which means collecting object and artworks from different locations, would be lost