[MSN] A French court has definitively quashed plans to return the preserved head of an indigenous Maori warrior from western France to New Zealand

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French court blocks return of Maori head

13 hours ago

ROUEN, France (AFP) - A French court has definitively quashed plans to
return the preserved head of an indigenous Maori warrior from western France
to New Zealand, judicial officials said on Wednesday.

Donated by a French collector in 1875, the head has been held since then in
a museum in the western city of Rouen, which decided last year to return it
as an "ethical gesture of respect" for the Maori people.

But the French culture ministry stepped in to block the transfer, arguing
the head was now part of France's cultural heritage.

On December 27, an administrative court ruled that city authorities had
failed to consult a scientific committee before withdrawing the head from a
national museum collection, definitively blocking the transfer.

The preserved heads of warriors with facial tattoos were popular with
European collectors in the 19th century before their trade was outlawed.

New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, has been campaigning for
the return of preserved heads and other human remains kept in overseas
collections.

Following the settlement of New Zealand by mainly British Europeans from the
19th century, the indigenous Maori now make up about 15 percent of the
country's 4.1 million people.