Should Museums Repatriate Ancient Artifacts to their Country of Origin?
Ancient artifacts are the symbols of human civilization. All of them are priceless and cannot be measured by currency value. Repatriate is a controversial problem because of the various reasons. For instance, the aggressor took all of the captures back to their home countries and showed them to the public during the war. Voyagers use artifacts as the evidence to prove they had reached those places. Archeologists, anthropologists, and scientists took the antiquities back to their university for research. Politicians used the regulation to move away a relic as decrease the power of a competitor. Thieves had stolen someone’s important items or expensive objects in a tomb in …show more content…
The most important reason is the moral issue. Malcolm Bell, an art professor at the University of Virginia. According to his essay, “Who’s Right? Repatriation of Cultural Property”, he thinks all the antiquities should be returned to their original countries. In his opinion, “The ownership claim of a country of origin offers two benefits: It blocks the undocumented digging that destroys archeological sites and strips artifacts of their functional and historical contexts. Also, it prevents the export of illegally excavated artifacts and works of art.” In his opinion, if antiquities are illegal exported, then it also possibly is illegal explored. Most governments agree with repatriating the ancient artifacts in order to protect the culture of their own country and preventing foreign countries’ museum and private collector to occupy them. Original countries or communities usually request returning artifacts upon ethnic or legislation. Many countries claimed all those history relics, ancient artifacts, tombs and buildings that are inside the border of the countries all belong to them. Foreign countries’ museums and collectors plundered most of the countries, which have this require. According to ”Museums Return Looted Artifacts”, between 2005 and 2007, there were four major cultural institutions in America agreed to make efforts in returning artifacts. They paid millions of dollar to buy the …show more content…
There is no boundary between human civilization and countries. Therefore it doesn’t matter which country those artifacts are in. More importantly, there must be historical reasons for them to be presented in particular countries. We should protect the history and let our next generation to learn from the history. Furthermore, showing artifacts from different cultures is encouraged, because it leads to the cultural mix, and strengthen the relationships between
Ancient artifacts are the symbols of human civilization. All of them are priceless and cannot be measured by currency value. Repatriate is a controversial problem because of the various reasons. For instance, the aggressor took all of the captures back to their home countries and showed them to the public during the war. Voyagers use artifacts as the evidence to prove they had reached those places. Archeologists, anthropologists, and scientists took the antiquities back to their university for research. Politicians used the regulation to move away a relic as decrease the power of a competitor. Thieves had stolen someone’s important items or expensive objects in a tomb in …show more content…
The most important reason is the moral issue. Malcolm Bell, an art professor at the University of Virginia. According to his essay, “Who’s Right? Repatriation of Cultural Property”, he thinks all the antiquities should be returned to their original countries. In his opinion, “The ownership claim of a country of origin offers two benefits: It blocks the undocumented digging that destroys archeological sites and strips artifacts of their functional and historical contexts. Also, it prevents the export of illegally excavated artifacts and works of art.” In his opinion, if antiquities are illegal exported, then it also possibly is illegal explored. Most governments agree with repatriating the ancient artifacts in order to protect the culture of their own country and preventing foreign countries’ museum and private collector to occupy them. Original countries or communities usually request returning artifacts upon ethnic or legislation. Many countries claimed all those history relics, ancient artifacts, tombs and buildings that are inside the border of the countries all belong to them. Foreign countries’ museums and collectors plundered most of the countries, which have this require. According to ”Museums Return Looted Artifacts”, between 2005 and 2007, there were four major cultural institutions in America agreed to make efforts in returning artifacts. They paid millions of dollar to buy the …show more content…
There is no boundary between human civilization and countries. Therefore it doesn’t matter which country those artifacts are in. More importantly, there must be historical reasons for them to be presented in particular countries. We should protect the history and let our next generation to learn from the history. Furthermore, showing artifacts from different cultures is encouraged, because it leads to the cultural mix, and strengthen the relationships between