Stolen works of art and treasures that find their country of origin. In Mali and Iraq, their return is celebrated as a victory. Thousands more are still missing.
3,500-year-old Mesopotamian treasure returns to Iraq
In Iraq, the United States this week returned a 3,500-year-old Mesopotamian treasure: a Gilgamesh tablet. The country’s authorities hailed a “victory” over those who “steal the history” of the country.
It is a tablet of great importance to Iraq, one of the oldest literary texts in the history of the country, even of humanity. It had been stolen in 1991, during the First Gulf War. And it was not found until 2019. In the meantime, it has been sold several times with a false certificate of origin, to art dealers, antique dealers etc.
This is a very classic method of reinserting a stolen work into the legal art market: the piece generally remains in the shadows for about ten years, then it is sold to small collectors with false papers and a false one. history on its origin, until being spotted by great art houses, even museums. This was the case for the Gilgamesh tablet, since the Museum of the Bible, in Washington, acquired it in 2014. This is where a curator deemed its provenance doubtful, allowing an investigation, its seizure, then its return to Iraq.
Along with it, a ram’s head and a Sumerian tablet were also returned to the country this week. But thousands of other objects still remain to be found. Iraq is one of the countries particularly affected by this looting, in particular because of the wars which have followed one another. We know that since 2003, tens of thousands of objects have been stolen from museums or archaeological sites.
“There are a lot of works that are stolen during clandestine looting across Iraq.”
Hassan Nadhem, Iraqi Minister of Culture
We are only talking about known and listed objects. Iraqi soils are full of gems that have never been unearthed and looters obviously take advantage of them. “There are a lot of works that are stolen during clandestine looting across Iraq. They leave the country without being recorded in our museums. How do we go about looking for them? to prove they’re ours? “, worries the Iraqi Minister of Culture, Hassan Nadhem. These objects are indeed almost impossible to trace and with them, Iraq then loses a whole part of its history and its identity.
In Mali, 900 looted objects officially returned
In Mali, Tuesday, December 8, more than 900 archaeological and ethnographic objects resulting from looting and illicit trafficking from the United States were officially returned to the Malian authorities. It was during a ceremony chaired by the Transitional Prime Minister and the American Ambassador to the National Museum of Mali. This operation was made possible thanks to a bilateral agreement between the two countries on restrictions and the import of cultural objects signed in 1993. Out of 23 countries in the world, Mali is the only sub-Saharan African state to benefit from this type of agreement with the United States.
The works that were ceded to Mali by the American government come from recent looting. They had been looted from archaeological sites and illegally exported to the United States. For the most part, they were seized by US customs between 2008 and 2011. Among them, there are treasures. Among the more than 900 returned objects are large funeral urns, a Dogon funeral vessel, a unique ceremonial cup, stone axes, pottery and bracelets. Objects of all types and all materials.
The director of the national museum, Daouda Keita, talks about objects dating from the Neolithic era, as well as others dating from the period of the great empires. There are many archaeological and ethnographic objects in the country and the government is trying to make the fight against looting or illegal sales a priority. But today, no one is able to quantify the number of Malian objects looted and outside its territory.
“Our cultural heritage should not remain trapped in museums in other countries.”
Choguel Kokalla Maïga, Prime Minister of Mali
Returns will be difficult for works and pieces that can be found today in private homes around the world. But with regard to works cataloged or which form part of archives or museum collections, the question of restitutions arises. “Our cultural heritage must not remain prisoner of the museums of other countries. The appeal launched in 1978 by Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, the Director General of Unesco for the return of cultural property from Africa must be heard all the time. as we believe in President Macron’s statement in Ouagadougou in November 2017. These are not just words for us “, says Choguel Kokalla Maïga the Malian Prime Minister. In his speech, he also urged other countries to follow the lead of the United States.
In Mali, the national museum has three new conservation rooms for the works. There is a real public enthusiasm for archeology, proof of the country’s glorious past. To raise awareness among the Malian populations against looting and give them access to their heritage, a thematic exhibition around the 900 repatriated works will be organized in the coming months.