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In order to deny States the right to control excavations on their land and to prevent them from claiming ownership of artefacts found in their countries, James Cuno, Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, in his new book, Who owns antiquity? Museums and the battle over our ancient heritage, goes so far as to deny any continuity between the peoples of present States and those of ancient civilizations. He denies that the present-day Egyptians have any links with ancient Egyptians:

“What is the relationship between, say, modern Egypt and the antiquities that were part of the land's Pharaonic past? The people of modern-day Cairo do not speak the language of the ancient Egyptians, do not practice their religion, do not make their art, wear their dress, eat their food, or play their music, and do not adhere to the same kind of laws or form of government the ancient Egyptians did.” (1) This astonishing declaration is typical of the controversial pronouncements made by Cuno in his book which can be easily proven to be unfounded or mere speculation and in any case, not very helpful in finding workable solutions to present controversies concerning the retention of illegally exported or stolen cultural objects. Some of his statements are of such a nature that one wonders whether they are worthy of detailed examination. They are probably better left uncommented but since they come from a director of one of the most important museums in the Western world, they cannot be simply ignored. Take the statement that the present Egyptians do not eat the same food as ancient Egyptians. Is this serious? When Zahi Hawass claims the return of the Rosetta Stone or the bust of Nefertiti, should we examine his diet in order to establish his links to ancient Egypt which permit him to claim on behalf of present-day Egypt? Does our consumption of particular food establish our links or affinity with other peoples? Does the consumption of rice by many Africans establish in any way their links to Asians? What about MacDonald's food which is wide spread in our world, does that make all of us Americans or one people? What about variations in food consumption patterns within a country along north/south lines or class lines? So who cares whether Zahi Hawass eats the same food as Tutankhamen did? For most of us, it is enough to know that they are both Egyptians and the one can legitimately claim the cultural achievements of the other on behalf of the Egyptian peoples of to-day.

Similarly, the other factors mentioned by Cuno, language, dress, religion, and music are not decisive for determining whether a State has a right to artefacts found on its soil. Sharing the same religion, music or language with a people does not help to settle this issue. Many Nigerians and Ghanaians share the same religion, music and language with the British. Does this give them any rights to Stonehenge? Cuno should have reflected a little on the multicultural and multireligious States of Africa to realize that within the same State or even within the same family there are different religions and languages and that the rights of succession are not affected or determined by these factors.

Whilst Cuno denies to States like Egypt the right of ownership, he seems to be willing and prepared to share with them artefacts found on their soil. But what is the basis of this sharing? Cuno does not explain how he comes to this position. A State which has no right of ownership is accorded by Cuno a right to share. Does this constitute ownership in that part which the State receives from partage? Is the right to partage based on Cuno's idea that antiquities do not belong to the State on whose soil they are found but belong to all of us? If so, in what proportions? If Egypt and Cuno's Art Institute were to share in a particular excavation, what are the rights of other States and institutions in the objects which belong to all of us?

Cuno seeks to return to the past. His nostalgia for the past freedom of the powerful nations and their museums is expressed clearly in his introduction to the book:

“For many decades in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, archaeological finds were shared between the excavating party and the local, host country through partage. This is how the great Ghandaran collection got to the Musée Guimet in Paris (shared with Afghanistan), the Assyrian collection got to the British Museum in London (shared with Iraq, before the formation of the modern, independent government of Iraq), the Lydian materials from Sardis got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (shared with the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey), the Egyptian collection got to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a number of collections got to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and of course how the great collections were formed at the university archaeological museums, like the Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale, the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. But this principle is no longer in practice. With the surge in nationalism in the middle decades of the twentieth century, it has become almost impossible to share archaeological finds. All such finds belong to the host nation and are its property. Only the state can authorize the removal of an archaeological artifact to another country, and it almost never does. Even when one lends antiquities abroad, it is for severely restricted periods of time. Antiquities are cultural property, and cultural property is defined and controlled by the state for the benefit of the state.” (2)

Does Cuno expect people outside the narrow circle of his friends and supporters in the Western world to share his views about the benefits of the partage system which allowed the Western world great freedom of choice in antiquities and deprived countries such as Egypt of their cultural treasures such as the Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum and the bust of Nefertiti, now in the Alte Museum in Berlin? The partage system allowed the rich countries which financed many of the exploration and excavation of archaeological sites to regard the countries of these sites, so called “source countries” as some sort of archaeological supermarket. Would Cuno present such an argument to the Egyptians, including Zahi Hawass, the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Supreme Council on Antiquities under whose leadership Egypt has recovered a lot of stolen objects and has also regained control over what leaves Egypt?

Cuno is understandably worried that his museum and the other big museums can no longer take whatever they want from other countries. His reasoning is strange and somehow always ends with the conclusion that stolen objects should be left where they are, i.e. in the United States and in Europe. Take for example his discussion on what he calls Merryman's second principle:

“Merryman's second principle - the quest for knowledge - would ask us to consider whether it serves our best interest in searching for knowledge to have the antiquity remain in its presumed country of origin, or to be housed elsewhere. In other words, is there a compelling reason, in terms of research and scholarship, why an antiquity should be in a particular place? One can imagine cases when it makes most sense for an antiquity to be with like things: similar artifacts from the same culture and time period. But of course this could mean that a newly discovered Ottoman ceramic ought to be in New York rather than in Istanbul, or a Khmer sculpture in Paris rather than in Phnom Penh. One can also imagine cases when it makes sense for an antiquity to be with similar artifacts from different cultures: Han Chinese ceramics with Roman and Mayan ceramics in London, and Greek classical bronzes with Han bronzes and even much later Benin and Italian Renaissance bronzes in New York. Why should we want to see an antiquity only within the country of its presumed origin? Why does it have its greatest meaning there? Why shouldn't we want to see the art and antiquities of China, for example, also in New Delhi, Athens, Rome, or Mexico City (or London or Chicago, for that matter) with examples of comparable cultural artifacts from India, Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica?” (3)

Cuno seems to be aware that much of what he writes in his book will appear to support the claims made for the so-called “universal museums” now re-baptized “encyclopaedic museums”. These are the imperialist museums such as British Museum, Louvre, Art Institute of Chicago, Musee Guimet, Ethnology Museum, Berlin which amassed immense number of objects largely through the colonial system and now feel handicapped or inhibited by national laws in the so-called source countries from filling their museums with more cultural objects:
“Some readers will interpret my arguments as favoring museums in the developed, first world at the expense of those in the developing third world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. That encyclopedic museums are currently predominantly in the developed world is not an argument against the idea of the encyclopedic museum. Indeed, the promise of the encyclopaedic museum is an argument for their being everywhere, in both the developed and developing world, wherever people are broadly curious about our common past, from New York to London, Berlin, Istanbul, Cairo, Lagos ,Mumbai, and Teheran, Beijing: everywhere.” (4)

The mind of Cuno works in a way many of us may not find easy to follow. He himself suspects that readers may consider his arguments as a plea and defence for the so-called universal museum which has, by all accounts, been only possible in a colonial situation which allowed some States to take whatever cultural objects they wanted from others. This has been the historical experience of humankind in the last two thousand years. Cuno does not advance any argument or information to counteract this perception. In answer to criticisms that all the so-called “universal museums” are in the West, Cuno suggests that we create “universal museums” in Lagos and elsewhere! Will the Nigerian Army be able to invade Britain and collect some thousands of cultural objects in Britain which we would need for a truly universal museum? Where in Germany could we send our forces to collect whatever we thought could be useful? And how do we secure some of the cultural objects now in the USA and in France? The raising of these questions is enough to demonstrate the inherent link between the “universal museum” and the use of force which facilitated these huge collections in the imperialist and colonial days and the clear impossibility of repeating this historical phenomenon in our days. How does Cuno read colonial history and all the complications and traumatic events of empire-building? There is no way Nigeria could establish a “universal museum” in our days. The Nigerians would be happy if they could establish a Nigerian museum with most of the stolen Nigerian cultural objects, including the Benin bronzes, the Nok terracotta, the Ife objects etc back to where they belong. There is no desire on the part of the African people to steal cultural objects from other lands. We just want our stolen cultural icons returned. We have no desire to inflict on other peoples the atrocities we experienced for having been in possession of rich raw materials and precious minerals. The world of the 21st Century is different from that of the 19th Century. This is what Cuno does not easily accept. His friend, Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum finds the history of the British Empire such a handicap that he thinks we should re-write history. Cuno is advising us to do what the West did, without showing any sign of regret or repentance for those thousands of lives lost in the process of acquisition. The imperialist enterprise does not appear to him to be wrong and he recommends it to victims of imperialism. We shall not follow him.

Most of Cuno's statements are controversial but some also either misrepresent the truth or at least convey an image that is far from what most scholars would recognize as accurate. Take for instance this statement about Benin:
“In the late nineteenth century, the Benin coast was dominated by the British. In 1897, violence erupted between the British and forces loyal to the Benin king. As retribution for the death of members of the British mission, a punitive Exhibition (expedition?) was organized, which occupied the royal city of Benin in 1897 and led to the removal of hundreds of Benin plaques, brass sculptures, and ivory tusks to Britain. The British Museum acquired a number of them and the rest were distributed throughout Europe, mostly to museum collections in Germany and Austria, while a few made their way to the United States, including this one in the Art Institute, which was acquired by the museum in 1933.” (5)

Almost every word here requires elaboration in order to obtain the full picture of the nefarious invasion of Benin in 1897. The impression is given by the first sentence that the situation in the Benin coast had been accepted by all as a British territory or, at least, an area of legitimate British control. On the contrary, the Oba of Benin had been resisting British attempts to gain full control of the area, including Benin and this is what led to eventual British invasion. The ambush of the British force under Captain Phillips which was sent to surprise Benin and overthrow the Oba is described as “violence erupted”, like some skirmishes in a Chicago neighbourhood between the police and some gangsters. The attack on Benin City, the looting of thousands of cultural objects, the burning of the city, the execution of the Oba's advisers, the exile of the Oba are all left out. Cuno writes about “removal of hundreds of Benin plaques” etc. when his sources must have informed him that thousands of objects were stolen. We are informed that “The British Museum acquired a number of them and the rest were distributed throughout Europe” to museum collections. The fact that the British Foreign Office sold these objects is entirely suppressed and, of course, there is no mention of the fact that the British Museum has some 1000 Benin bronzes, the Ethnology Museum, Berlin has some 700 and the Ethnology Museum of Vienna has some 300 pieces. It seems to me there is here a deliberate attempt to hide the violent nature of the British invasion and the commercial motives. Cuno obviously does not want to admit that the „universal museum” has so far been realized only with the use of excessive force. He of course does not refer to the French, German and British colonial histories.

Throughout his book, Cuno constantly attacks those who seek the restitution of their cultural objects as nationalist retentionists who are motivated by political ambitions:

“Nationalist retentionist cultural property laws segregate the world's cultural property within the borders of modern nation-states. Most often, as I have discussed them in this book such laws are focussed on antiquities; that is, on works of art made long before there were nations. National and international laws, regulations, and agreements typically define antiquities as works of art made at least 150 years ago. They claim antiquities found(or thought to have been found) within their national borders as a nation's patrimony, as important to that nation's identity and esteem, and not to our understanding of the world. Quite explicitly, they claim them as a nation's property, as bearing the imprint of a national identity.” (6)

It is really remarkable that Cuno considers all who seek the return or retention of antiquities in the countries where they are found as nationalist retentionists and politically motivated. He seems incapable of envisaging that there are some of us who believe, as a matter of justice, that every country should have control over the artefacts that are found in its territory and should be in a position to determine what goes out and that those objects that have been illegally or irregularly taken out should be returned. Some of us believe that Egypt should control all artefacts found on its territory and those artefacts, like the Rosetta stone or the bust of Nefertiti which were illegally or surreptitiously exported should be returned. Does this make us “nationalist retentionists” even though we are not Egyptians? Or are we nationalists of no nation? Could it be that we are more internationalist than Cuno and co who seek to retain stolen cultural objects in London, Paris, New York, Chicago and Berlin?

Can anyone explain why the large museums, which have more objects than they can display, which cannot properly catalogue the thousands of objects lying in their depots, many of them still in the original packing materials and which constantly complain about not having enough space for their objects, still want to acquire more objects? Does anyone know of any large museum that has issued a catalogue of all its African objects? This has not been done because it will be a gigantic and expensive operation. Nor have the museums, despite all the talk about digitalization, been able to put much of their objects on the web for general consultation. Cuno criticises the 1970 Convention for supporting States in hoarding cultural property: “the Convention condones and supports the widespread practice of over-retention or, less politely, hoarding of cultural property.” (7)

One really wonders what kind of research or reflection Cuno did before making such a statement which surely applies more to the British Museum and the other “universal museums” than to museums in the source countries some of which do not even have many of their own cultural objects because they have mostly been shipped off to Britain and the United States. The British Museum, for example, has more Benin bronzes than the museums in Benin City or Lagos. The Ethnology Museum in Berlin has also more Benin bronzes than Nigeria, the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York have all more African cultural objects than most museums in Africa. So who is hoarding? Those who have less or those who cannot even count what they have?

According to a US study, the American museums are unable to keep the precious objects and documents in their collections in acceptable conditions and have hardly any plans for emergency situations. (8) These museums may in the end prove to be a very wasteful and expensive enterprise for mankind, in terms of the loss of human lives in the acquisition process, costs of maintenance and the lack of proper conservatory methods leading to unnecessary loss of objects.

Cuno does not spare the archaeologists who, generally, are in favour of regulated excavations and do support laws which give a State control over artefacts found on its soil. Unlike Cuno, the archaeologists have no sympathy for looters and plunderers. They want to see archaeological objects in their location before the plunders get their hands on them and sell them to museums in Europe and America. Cuno thinks Western archaeologists have all too easily succumbed to the demands of nationalist laws, regulations and even encouraged them: Continued    Source: Kwame Opoku, Dr.

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