repatriation

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) has repatriated part of an 18th-century Buddhist painting that might have been stolen after the Korean War. Titled 'The Tenth King of Hell', the painting was made in 1798 during the Joseon dynasty of…

France has returned three human skulls, obtained during the colonial era, to the government of Madagascar. One of the skulls is said to have belonged to King Teora, a Malagasy king who was killed by the French army in 1897. After his…

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has repatriated over 30 artifacts linked to smuggling to Spain, Hungary, and Italy The artifacts were obtained via investigations linked to known art smugglers like Giovanni Becchina, Eugene…

The Fowler Museum in LA has repatriated 11 objects to the Larrakia community in Australia. In a ceremony held on May 20, the museum returned the objects to the Larrakia, an Aboriginal community from the Northern Territory of Australia.…

Chau Chak Wing Museum in Sydney, Australia returned 16 human skulls to Papua New Guinea last week. The human skulls were taken during the 1876-77 expedition of the Rai Coast by Russian scientist Nickolai N. Miklouho-Maclay. He took the…

The Netherlands government has announced the repatriation of 113 Benin Bronzes from its collection to Nigeria. In a press statement on February 19, it was announced after a request from the Nigerian government, Eppo Bruins (Minister of…

A museum in Münster, Germany returned the head of an ancient marble statue to Greece. The stone head belonged to a complete marble statue of a man, dated around 150 CE. Research conducted by the Archaeological Museum of the University of…

A museum in Copenhagen, Denmark has returned a sacred cloth of the Tupinambá tribe to Brazil, after 300 years. The cloak, nearly six-foot-long, is estimated to have been made using 4,000 feathers belonging to scarlet ibis. There are less…

The Parthenon Museum in Nashville, Tennessee returned 250 Mexican artifacts to their home country. Most of the objects are over 500 years old, dating to the pre-Columbian era. They include tools, clay toys, ceramics, and musical…

The Stanley Museum in Iowa has become the first museum in the US to return Benin Bronzes to its rightful owners. In a ceremony held on July 15 at the Benin Palace in Nigeria, members of the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art…