The Long Road Home: Should Western Museums Repatriate Artifacts?

August 10, 2022

Should the thousands of artifacts looted from their countries of origin during colonial times be returned home?

Almost 900 of the Benin Bronzes, a collection of ancient Nigerian artifacts widely considered stolen, are now on display at the British Museum. Lauren Fleishman. CC BY-SA 2.0.

While archaeologists must abide by a number of strict ethical guidelines when conducting research in foreign countries, museums are seldom held to the same level of scrutiny when acquiring artifacts. Many world class museums house relics of significant historical and cultural importance, undoubtedly attracting both hordes of curious visitors and a great deal of commercial benefit. The question is, however, should these museums really be benefitting from objects that they have effectively stolen from other countries? The question of repatriating many of these looted artifacts has been the center of great controversy in recent years, as many ex-colonial countries who are victims of such theft are beginning to contest the legal ownership of these objects.

The Elgin Marbles are original parts of the Parthenon and were taken from Athens in the early 1800s to the British Museum. Wally Gobetz. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

On the prolific collection of artifacts on display at the British Museum in London, which currently have contested ownership, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu, a renowned art historian and professor of Nigerian heritage now teaching at Princeton University commented, “You cannot claim to be an encyclopedic collector of stolen objects.” His view makes reference to the historically familiar colonial behavior that many have begun to recognize in the attitudes of the British Museum and many other similar Western institutions towards the repatriation of artifacts. Giving back the artifacts, however, may not be as simple as flying them back home. In the specific case of the British Museum and other museums in England, the British Museum Act of 1963 legally limits any desire to return the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria, the Amarvati Marbles from India and even the world famous Rosetta Stone originally from Egypt among thousands of other objects.

King Philippe of Belgium (right) returning a historical Kakuungu mask to Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi (left) during a state month in June, 2022. Cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

There have been a few stories in recent news highlighting the successful repatriation of artifacts to the ex-colonies they were taken from. June of this year marked the beginning of Belgium’s pledge to return more than 80,000 artifacts looted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the 75-year period during which they ruled over the colony. King Philippe of Belgium expressed his “deepest regrets” over his country’s treatment of the DRC in a letter to the Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi back in 2020, the 60th anniversary of the country’s independence. The King handed a “Kakuungu” mask handmade by the Suku people native to the southwest region of the DRC to President Tshisekedi during his state visit to Kinshasa last month. This particular artifact had been housed in the Royal Museum for Central Africa located near the Belgian capital of Brussels, a site used as a “human zoo” towards the end of the 19th century, where hundreds of captured Congolese villagers were put on display in abysmal conditions.

Turkey’s Culture Ministry claims that tiles in the Ottoman Wall display at the Louvre Museum’s in Paris were stolen from Turkey in the 19th century. Ömer Erbil. CC BY-NC 2.0.

To the many in favor of artifact repatriation, getting the objects home is more than just about the claims of ownerships over these pieces. Many, if not all, of these artifacts is incredibly significant to the cultural and historical identities of countries that suffered under colonial rule, and this inability to access vital parts of their own histories are simply a continuation of that hardship. The popular claim among Western museums that they are simply housing the objects so that they remain accessible to all is also a contentious one. In an interview with CBC, Professor Okeke-Agulu called the argument “stupid” due to its implicit understanding that the museums are only thinking about access to visitors from other Western countries, rather than those from the African continent for whom it is extremely difficult to travel across the world to enjoy these artifacts. He and many others believe that the return of these objects is long overdue -- that these institutions need to get “on the right side of history”.

An 8-Day Tour Around the World, Virtually

December 11, 2020

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused many to experience FOMO, or the fear of missing out, for travel plans which have otherwise been canceled. That said, with a little creativity and a socially distanced trip to the supermarket, not all travel plans have to be lost.

If you’re interested in taking a more in-depth virtual visit to an international destination, check out our guide on international staycations. However, if you’re looking for a DIY brunch in Milan, a virtual afternoon in Cape Town, or an evening in Singapore, then continue reading on for a list of eight international destinations that you can (briefly) visit from the comfort of your home.

Day 1. Have Brunch in Milan

*Homemade panettone, a popular Milanese sweet bread. Nicola. CC BY 2.0.*

Milan is truly an international city. The capital of Italy’s Lombardy region boasts an eclectic blend of Milanese cuisine, innovative fashion, and museums which are second to none. In planning a stay-at-home brunch in Milan, one need look no further than the numerous menus of the city’s 8,785 restaurants for inspiration.

Consider making Sarpi oTTo’s famous quadrotti, the Italian equivalent of avocado toast; one just substitutes avocado for any number of toppings from their menu including hummus, chicken pate, or ricotta and asparagus. Or try your hand at making some pastries like vegan almond and carrot cake, chocolate croissants, or a homemade brioche inspired by the California Bakery. Likewise, taste coffees inspired by Biancolatte with recipes including bicerin, an Italian-style mocha espresso, caffe shakerato, or a simple caffe americano.

Day 2. Visit the Museums of Cape Town

*A train pulling into a station in Cape Town. George M. Groutas. CC BY 2.0.*

Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa, is one of the most historically rich and culturally diverse cities in all of Africa. The second-most populous city in the country, Cape Town is home to a number of popular destinations such as Table Mountain, Cape Point, and world-renowned beaches.

Another popular attraction of the city that can be enjoyed virtually is its excellent museums. The Iziko South African National Gallery is known for its contemporary South African, Dutch, British and French paintings, and offers several virtual tours from exhibits within the Iziko museum system. Likewise, the District Six Museum is home to collections documenting and memorializing the forced removal of 60,000 residents from the District Six region of Cape Town during apartheid in the 1970s. Offering a number of virtual educational resources, one can learn more about the history of apartheid and the movement for restitution.

Day 3. Dine at a Hawker Center in Singapore

*Diners eating at the Holland Village Hawker Centre. Premshree Pillai. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.*

Hawker centers are food markets featuring a blend of cuisines reflective of Singapore's status as a global city. Known for their unique food culture, they draw millions of tourists to the country annually. Famous food halls include the Newton Food Centre, which was featured in “Crazy Rich Asians,” the Chinatown Food Complex and the Tai Hwa Eating House. The latter two are home to the first and second street food locations to ever receive Michelin stars.

For those curious to try out some of the best that Singapore’s hawker centers have to offer, Spice N’ Pans has a list of 20 recipes with how-to videos straight from the city-state’s food stalls. Popular favorites on the list include Hainanese chicken rice, chicken satay, and Teochew fish porridge.

Day 4. Travel Throughout the Middle East

*Visitors walking through Petra, Jordan. Chris Yunker. CC BY 2.0.*

In the Western world, the Middle East is often overlooked as a travel destination. However, this region is home to a variety of diverse cultures that would be a pity to overlook. Sites such as Petra, Jordan, the Isfahan mosque in Iran, and the Kadisha Valley in Lebanon continue to captivate audiences to this day.

To get a taste of what the Middle East has to offer, consider taking a virtual tour in one of the 16 countries in the region. The travel and culture blog Where Sasha Went offers a great guide to a variety of tours available to anyone. The ancient port city of Jaffa in Israel, flashy Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and the rugged country of Tajikistan are just a handful of locations which can be toured from your computer.

Day 5. Experience Australia’s Natural Diversity

*A view of Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. Angelo Failla. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.*

The land down under is home to some of the most unique and beautiful natural landscapes in the world. Whether it be the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast, the vast desert regions of the interior, or the tropical forests in the far north, Australia is truly home to something for every nature lover, regardless of what they may be interested in.

To get a glimpse into the biodiversity of the region, a number of virtual experiences are available for free. The famous Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has a number of 360-degree views of the most popular sites in the park. Likewise, one can tour the Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough, one of the world’s most famous natural historians. Additionally, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary offers 18 live webcams so viewers can get up close and personal with the sanctuary’s koalas, dingoes and collection of reptiles.

Day 6. Taste the Tacos of Mexico

*A taco food truck in Mexico City. Ted McGrath. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.*

Mexican food, and more specifically tacos, have been a staple of the American food canon for decades. However, what is often lost when one visits their local taqueria is the history behind the recipes, culture and heritage of favorites such as tacos al pastor and pescado.

Enter “Taco Chronicles,” a visually engaging docuseries on Netflix which centers around the history, traditions and varieties of tacos found throughout Mexico. Each episode highlights a type of taco, then showcases interviews with families, experts, food writers and restaurant owners as they discuss the process and history of their personal recipes. If you are going to sit down for a couple episodes, it is highly recommended that you have a taco in hand; the stunning cinematography and in-depth descriptions make any mouth water for guisado and carnitas.

Day 7. Visit the Best Museums of Europe

*The front entrance of the British Museum. David Woo. CC BY-ND 2.0.*

Europe is world renowned for its museums. Each country on the continent can boast its own collections of art, history, science, technology and cultural innovation. Several of these museums, like the Prado Museum in Madrid and the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy, have been featured in the article, “8 Museums from Around the World to Visit Virtually from Home.”

That said, countless other European museums are deserving of recognition and worth your time if you have a couple of free hours. The British Museum currently offers the Museum of the World digital collection, self-described as an “experience through time, continents and cultures, featuring some of the most fascinating objects in human history.” The Vatican Museums offer virtual tours of a number of rooms from the Holy See, including the iconic Sistine Chapel and the halls of the Chiaramonti Museum. Finally, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, offers an extensive online catalog of art and cultural artifacts from Europe’s largest country.

Day 8. Viva La Habana

*A view of Havana from the Malecon. Nick Kenrick. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.*

For many, the sights and sounds of Cuba’s capital city are lost, largely due to the ongoing tensions between the island nation and the United States. That said, Havana’s unique history has shaped it to be one of the most fascinating and culturally vibrant cities in the world. Featuring sites like the Paseo del Prado, institutions such as the International School of Havana, and foods like fried sweet plantains and cafe cubano, the city holds something for everyone.

To enjoy Havana from the comfort of your home, consider trying your hand at cooking Cuban recipes. Saveur offers a great starting point for recipes, including popular favorites such as ropa vieja, a Cuban-style shredded beef, fricase de pollo, a type of chicken stew, and the ever-famous cubano sandwich. Additionally, a budding film industry has begun to take hold in Havana, offering films that showcase beautiful shots of the cityscape. Movies like “Four Seasons in Havana” and “Wasp Network” are both available on Netflix.

The 10 Best Museums You’ve Never Heard Of

December 4, 2020

The world’s most popular museums are often overcrowded and overwhelming. Here are 10 of the world’s best museums that are less known but just as impactful.

People walk by Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland. Lys Ippos. CC BY 3.0.

The most popular museums in the world—the Louvre, the Met, the Tate Modern—offer an incredible breadth of art, but are often crowded, congested and overwhelming. Lesser-known museums can offer exceptional art, culture and history, all without the lines and high volumes of other visitors. Here are 10 of the best museums around the world that fly under the radar and are home to unique and fascinating collections.

1. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

The exterior of the Louisiana on the Oresund Sound. CC BY 4.0. Kim Hansen.

The Louisiana, located outside of Copenhagen, Denmark, is home to one of the most immersive modern art collections in the world. In response to Danish museums turning away modern art, founder Knud W. Jensen created the Louisiana in 1958. The museum’s integration of indoor, outdoor and digital space allows visitors to move through art dynamically, fulfilling Jensen’s goal of a truly integrated art experience. This museum is also one of the only in the world with a permanent light installation from Yayoi Kusama, whose temporary installations in cities such as New York are almost impossible to get tickets for.

2. Museum of Broken Relationships

The Museum of Broken Relationships. CC BY 2.0. Pros Opee. CC BY 2.0.

This museum, created by artists Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic, is located in Zagreb, Croatia, with a second gallery in Los Angeles. The museum’s mission is to create a shrine of symbolic possessions that commemorate and treasure humanity’s ability to love and to lose. While the Museum of Broken Relationships is a physically stunning museum, the heart of this project stems from its global engagement. The museum’s online component has space for everyone to share the story of their heartbreak. View the online portion of the museum here.

3. Pitt Rivers Museum

Interior of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Geni. CC BY 2.0.

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, is home to over half a million artifacts from around the globe. A fascinating collection of anthropological and archaeological items, the Pitt Rivers Museum is unique because of its organizational system for displays. Rather than grouping items together by period or people, the Pitt Rivers Museum groups items together by type, illustrating the commonalities between different peoples and histories throughout the world. You can visit the museum virtually today.

4. Tenement Museum

The Tenement Museum exterior. Beyond My Ken. CC BY 2.0.

The Tenement Museum in New York City is devoted to the history of immigration and migration to the United States. Located in a formerly dilapidated tenement building that was home to immigrant families between 1860 and 1930, historian Ruth Abram and social activist Anita Jacobsen built their museum around the stories of these families. In connecting public policy, oral history and immigrant narratives, the Tenement Museum offers a moving and topical exploration of recent history.

5. The Kunstkamera

The Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg, Russia. Flor Stein. CC BY 4.0.

Established by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century, the Kunstkamera’s collection comprises nearly 2 million oddities. Located in St. Petersburg, Russia’s first museum was founded with the goal of containing all of the world’s knowledge in one building. This massive collection remains relatively unknown outside of Russia, but offers one of the world’s most vast displays of global anthropology and ethnography.

6. Castello di Rivoli

The facade of Castello di Rivoli. M. A. CC BY 2.5.

In 1984, the Castello di Rivoli became the first museum in Italy completely devoted to contemporary art. Located just outside of Turin, this museum is located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle buildings are open to the public and the modern art exhibitions within the castle walls are world-class, with the Castello di Rivoli also serving as one of the world’s premier art history research centers.

7. Zentrum Paul Klee

Zentrum Paul Klee exterior. Krol K. CC BY 3.0.

This museum, located in Bern, Switzerland, is dedicated to the work of artist Paul Klee. Klee’s artistic collection is remarkable in its own right with his groundbreaking exploration of color theory, but the draw of this museum is also the physical building. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano in 2005, the iconic building integrates the natural hilly landscape with metallic swoops and arcs that mirror Klee’s art. Check out the online exhibit, “Mapping Klee,” at this link.

8. Museum of Old and New Art

“Snake” by Sidney Nolan in MONA. Jeff Owens. CC BY 2.0.

MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, is an ever-changing collection of ancient, contemporary and modern art. Located in Hobart on Australia’s island of Tasmania, the museum is built into a cliff and prioritizes multimedia installations, engagement with community-based art, and live performances. MONA elevates the museum experience by operating a winery, hotel and restaurant on-site that all mirror the museum’s ethos: fun.

9. Museum Willet-Holthuysen

Interior of the Museum Willet-Holthuysen. Remi Mathis. CC BY 3.0.

The Museum Willet-Holthuysen is a homage to Amsterdam’s golden age. Built in 1687, this canal house was donated to the Dutch city in 1895. The 18th- and 19th-century room decor is still in its original condition, and the gallery walls are lined with paintings from the Willet-Holthuysen private collection, allowing many of the paintings to be displayed in their original historic setting. View part of the collection online here.

10. The Neon Museum

Signs in the Neon Museum. Adrian Grycuk. CC BY 3.0.

Since 2005, this museum in Warsaw, Poland, has been dedicated to the preservation of Cold War-era artifacts; namely, neon signage from the Soviet Union. In the Eastern Bloc, which included Poland, there was an official effort from the 1950s to the 1970s to “neonize” the state. The Soviet attempt to bring Western aesthetics to Eastern Europe has been preserved at the Neon Museum, where gallery walls are lined with an array of colorful relics.

Literary Tours Across the World: Finding Inspiration at Your Favorite Writers’ Homes

November 12, 2020

As the pandemic continues on, many have rekindled their love for reading to pass the time. Books are a world of their own that can take the reader on a journey beyond their bedroom or couch, giving the brain a break from the turbulent world outside. Thankfully for book lovers, imaginary places in text can easily come to life through literary tours.

These tours take readers through famous writers’ homes, the towns they lived in, and the places that inspired them. They are guided by literary experts who detail the history and biography of the authors while highlighting the settings of the books and sometimes even poetry, always making sure to address the location’s significance in reference to the text. These types of tours are available on almost every continent and whatever genre is your preference, there is a tour for you.

For fans of classic British writers, readers can take advantage of tours in the United Kingdom such as the “Jane Austen Tour,” the “Charles Dickens Tour,” and even visits to the house that the Brontes were raised in. Some of these tours even include stays in hotels the authors frequented, such as a stay at the five-star Brown’s Hotel–the oldest hotel in London–on the “Agatha Christie Tour.” It is said that Christie was a regular guest at the hotel and some believe that Brown’s inspired her novel “At Bertram’s Hotel.”

Brown's Hotel. cgespino. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West, Florida. faungg. CC BY-ND 2.0.

Those who enjoy modernist American writings can visit the home, and now museum, of Ernest Hemingway in Old Town Key West, Florida. While it is an independent tour with guides ready for questions, the Hemingway Home is more than just an estate. After touring the home, one can meet some of the 40 cats that roam the garden surrounding the house, famously known as “Hemingway’s cats” for their extra paw appendage. The rooms and gardens of the Hemingway Home are where he crafted some of his greatest works, and the beauty of Key West makes it apparent what drove his inspiration.

Bookworms with an appreciation for Japanese culture can take a tour guided by Asian Art Tours called “Japan from Cover to Cover.” Travelers are provided with transportation, public or private based on your preference, with the tour beginning in Tokyo. Spanning 10 days, each day introduces visitors not only to a place of literary significance, like Matsue Castle, a favorite spot of renowned author Lafcadio Hearn, but also to a notable writer currently living in Japan. They range in occupation, from journalist to haiku poet to a professor of Japanese folklore. The tour ends with a trip to the Adachi Museum of Art. This tour is remarkable as it completely immerses participants in Japanese culture through firsthand experience.

Adachi Museum of Art. naoyafujii. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Literary tours are something to look forward to in a post-pandemic world, and they bring greater life to the books we fall in love with. They are a way to bring further appreciation to favorite novels and poems, all while providing scenery and knowledge unique to books themselves.