[MSN] Disputes on Stolen Art Bring Up Complex Legal and Cultural Issues. Museums and governments are negotiating these complex issues around the world.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Disputes on Stolen Art Bring Up Complex Legal and Cultural Issues 
Museums and governments are negotiating these complex issues around the
world. 

Transcript of radio broadcast:
29 January 2008
	
MP3 - Download (MP3) audio clip:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-01-29-voa1.cfm
MP3 - Listen to (MP3) audio clip:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-01-29-voa1.cfm
RealAudio - Download audio clip:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-01-29-voa1.cfm

VOICE ONE:

I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. At the
British Museum in London, millions of people every year visit a famous
collection of marble statues from the ancient Greek building called the
Parthenon.

These finely carved works and the building they came from are widely
considered the most important examples of western art and building design.
Why these Greek statues are in a British museum is an important part of our
story today. We explore the complex issues of cultural property, ownership,
and the returning -- or keeping -- of cultural treasures.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
An example of the Elgin Marbles
An example of the Elgin Marbles

Many people know these famous and disputed statues at the British Museum as
the Elgin Marbles. They were named for Lord Thomas Elgin, who served as
British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. The Ottoman Empire at this time included what is current day Greece
as well as Turkey.

VOICE TWO:

Lord Elgin decided he was in a good position to improve the national art
collection of Britain. So he gathered a team of experts to help him make
drawings and plaster copies of the buildings of ancient Greece within the
city of Athens. In eighteen-oh-one, Lord Elgin received legal permission to
also take away any pieces of stone with images or words carved on them.

Later, another legal document permitted the stone pieces, or marbles, to be
sent by boat to Britain.  Lord Elgin eventually sold the marbles to the
British government to be housed in the British Museum. His actions have been
disputed ever since.  The British Museum believes it has the right to
protect these works for the world to enjoy. But the Greek government has a
very different opinion.

VOICE ONE:

The head of a horse of Selene from the Elgin Marbles
The head of a horse of Selene from the Elgin Marbles
In the nineteen eighties, the Greek government began a modern campaign for
the return of these statues, which Greeks call the Parthenon Marbles. During
this time, the Greek cultural minister, Melina Mercouri, made the campaign
an international issue by calling for their return during a United Nations
meeting.

The Greek government recently built a museum near the ruins of the Parthenon
to house the ancient building's sculptures. The strikingly modern Acropolis
Museum is interesting for the art it contains as well as for the art that is
clearly missing.  The marbles are shown in the order that they were first
placed in the Parthenon. There are the ancient statues that belong to Greece
and there are plaster copies of the statues that are currently in Britain.

Now that the works are placed together, it is clear that they are not just
individual sculptures. Together, the extraordinary sculptures tell a story
about an ancient culture.

VOICE TWO:

The current Greek minister of culture is Michalis Liapis.  He says the new
Acropolis Museum makes it possible for the sculptures now in Britain to have
a large exhibit space where they can be protected. He says Britain no longer
has any excuse to keep these works of art.

A spokeswoman for the British Museum in London says the Acropolis Museum
represents an important effort. But she points out that the goal of the
British Museum is to present all world cultures to visitors so that they can
compare civilizations.

VOICE ONE:

This cultural dispute is not just a concern for museums and governments.
Michael Reppas helped create a group called The American Committee for the
Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

Mister Reppas, a Greek American, says part of his history has been stolen
and placed in a museum in Britain. He says the situation would be like
cutting off a piece of the Statue of Liberty in New York City and placing it
in a museum in another country.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Today, unlike during Lord Elgin's time, international laws protect a
country's cultural treasures. Museums and governments use these laws to help
negotiate the return of such property. Museums also follow a set of rules to
help make sure that they received the cultural treasures fairly and legally.
Often, museums do not know that objects they received in the past were
gotten illegally.

VOICE ONE:

Other times it is less clear whether or not a museum acted legally in buying
art. For example, Marion True is an art expert who used to work for the J.
Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Since two thousand five, Miz
True has been on trial in Italy. She is accused of illegal actions in
obtaining ancient Italian cultural objects. She is on trial in Greece for
similar charges. 

VOICE TWO:

The Italian Cultural Ministry takes very seriously the stealing of cultural
objects from Italy. A special group of Italian military police works to
reclaim stolen art and archeological objects. Italy recently ended
negotiations with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts over
thirteen cultural treasures that are now being returned to Italy.

Italy won its claim on the objects because documents showed that they were
taken illegally from the country. Italy has also agreed to loan some of the
objects to the museum, so both sides ended up with a fair resolution. Katie
Getchell is deputy director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She says the
museum did not want to have objects that it did not rightfully own. And she
says that there is a legal, moral and responsible way for governments and
museums to resolve such disputes.

VOICE ONE:

Italy is demonstrating its progress in this area with a new exhibit at the
Quirinale, or presidential palace, in Rome.  The exhibit shows sixty-eight
cultural objects that Italy has reclaimed from American museums. These
museums include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.  The name of the museum
that formerly owned the object is on the signs explaining the history of
each object.

Italian officials say the exhibit shows how much the museum world is
changing its position on cultural disputes.

VOICE TWO:

This change is also clear in another case between Peru and an American
university in
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
the state of Connecticut. Last year, Yale University agreed to return a
large number of treasures taken from the ancient Peruvian city of Machu
Picchu. In nineteen twelve, the Yale researcher and explorer Hiram Bingham
rediscovered the hidden city.  He brought many objects from Machu Picchu to
the United States. Peru says that the objects were on loan and should have
been returned long ago.  After years of negotiations, Yale announced in
September of last year that the two sides had reached an early agreement.

VOICE ONE:

Yale has officially agreed that Peru owns the cultural objects. The
university will return most of them and will be able to keep others for an
extended period of time. Under the expected agreement, Yale will advise Peru
on the building of a museum for the objects. The President of Yale
University, Richard Levin, said the two sides have created a new way of
resolving competing interests in cultural property disputes. However, it is
not clear when a final agreement will be reached.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Efforts to protect cultural property increased after World War Two. During
the war, Nazi Germany stole large amounts of art from the countries they
invaded. In reaction, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property was signed in nineteen fifty-four. The United Nations cultural
organization has also recognized the issue. In nineteen seventy, UNESCO
created a convention to prevent the illegal exportation of cultural
property. Individual countries have their own laws about cultural property
as well.

VOICE ONE:

One example of art stolen by the Nazis during World War Two has been
successfully resolved. At the Neue Gallery in New York City, visitors can
see a beautiful painting of a woman named Adele Bloch-Bauer made by the
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. Adele's husband, Ferdinand, asked the artist
to make the painting around nineteen-oh-seven.

'Adele Bloch-Bauer 1'
'Adele Bloch-Bauer 1'
In the late nineteen thirties, when Austria was under Nazi rule, Mister
Bloch-Bauer was forced to flee his country because he was Jewish. His
family's collection of art was seized by Nazi leaders and later became state
property.

For years Austria refused to return the art to the Bloch-Bauer family. Then,
in two thousand six, the family finally won its court case and ownership of
the art. They later sold the work to the owner of Neue Gallery. This
painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer is not only a beautiful example of Austrian
art. It also represents a powerful story about one family's successful
battle over injustice.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange.  I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Archives of our programs with transcripts and MP3s are
at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA
Special English.