Why read Who Owns Antiquity??

Book cover of Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage

Book description

Whether antiquities should be returned to the countries where they were found is one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the art world today, and it has pitted museums, private collectors, and dealers against source countries, archaeologists, and academics. Maintaining that the acquisition of undocumented antiquities by museums…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Who Owns Antiquity? as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Michael Findlay

Author

Until read this book, I took it as a given that countries had a right to request the return of antiquities that ended up in (mostly) Western museums, narratives that are now making headlines in our anti-colonial present.

Cuno explains how complex this issue is ethically, legally and philosophically. Many of the peoples whose heritage these objects represent have disappeared or no longer occupy the countries in question.

Also for the sake of the objects themselves should they be studied and maintained and made available to a wide public in a museum rather than be returned to a corrupt government?

From Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023.