SEVENTH REPORT
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee
has agreed to the following Report:
CULTURAL PROPERTY:
RETURN AND ILLICIT TRADE
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Works of art and other cultural objects often
have great artistic merit and aesthetic appeal, but they also
have a history. This Report is concerned with some of those histories
and the implications of changes in the ownership, location or
context of objects. Such history matters today; it affects the
current trade in cultural property, both licit and illicit, the
protection and understanding of the world's cultural heritage
and how that heritage is presented to the public in the United
Kingdom and across the world.
2. The issues that we have considered during our
inquiry are diverse, but one theme that consistently emerged from
the evidence is the importance of provenance—the need for
those concerned with the trade in and transfer of cultural objects
to endeavour to understand where those objects came from and the
history of their ownership and location. The three cultural objects
on the front cover of this Report illustrate some of the ways
in which the history of an object can matter:
A Bronze Age miniature shield:
this object was looted from a site near Salisbury and subsequently
purchased by the British Museum; research there demonstrated that
the object came from a major hoard of Iron Age and Bronze Age
goods, the combination of which is extremely rare and thus archaeologically
significant; the miniature shield was returned to its rightful
owner, although it is now in the ownership of the British Museum.[6]
Boulevard Montmartre, Spring:
this painting by Camille Pissarro was forcibly removed by the
Nazis from the ownership of Max Silberberg in Breslau in 1935;
he was subsequently murdered by that régime; the painting
passed through several hands before its acquisition by the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem; in the course of this year, ownership passed
back to Silberberg's descendants in Britain.[7]
A Lakota Ghost Dance Shirt:
this object was acquired by Glasgow Museums in 1892 and may have
been taken from the body of a victim of the massacre at Wounded
Knee in December 1890; it has now been returned to South Dakota,
but Glasgow has a valued role in the object's history, a role
that is reflected in a new display in Glasgow.[8]
3. We announced our intention to conduct an inquiry
into matters relating to cultural property, including measures
to control the illicit trade in such property, in October 1999.
Early in February 2000 we held a private seminar to enhance our
knowledge of the subject.[9]
We then published the terms of reference for the inquiry in a
press notice, the text of which is annexed to this Report. We
stated then that we expected our Report arising from the inquiry
to concentrate on general policies towards return and the illicit
trade rather than making recommendations relating to individual
claims.
4. We made three visits—to the British Museum,
to Thessaloniki, Athens and Rome and to New Scotland Yard—which
provided an invaluable dimension to our inquiry. We held eight
oral evidence sessions between late March and early June during
which we took evidence from a range of witnesses concerned with
or responsible for museums and museums policy,[10]
archaeology and the protection of the archaeological heritage,[11]
the legitimate trade in art and antiquities,[12]
enforcement measures against illegal trading,[13]
claims for return of cultural property[14]
and Government policy.[15]
We received a great range of valuable memoranda from interested
parties, including evidence by or on behalf of the Governments
of Cyprus, Australia and Egypt. Many of those memoranda have been
published in Volume III of this Report; the remainder have been
reported to the House and are available for public inspection.[16]
5. We are most grateful to all those who assisted
the Committee during its inquiry, and in particular to those who
met the Committee in the course of its visits and those who came
from abroad to give oral evidence, namely Professor Jonathan Petropoulos,
Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College and Research
Director for Art and Cultural Property, Presidential Advisory
Commission on Holocaust Assets in the US, Major General Roberto
Conforti, Head of the Protection of National Heritage Command
of the Italian Carabinieri, Mr George Papandreou, Foreign Minister
of Greece, Dr Lina Mendoni, Secretary-General of the Ministry
of Culture of Greece, and Mr Jules Dassin, President of the Melina
Mercouri Foundation.
6 See paras 22-23, 119 below. Back
7 See
Evidence, pp 129-130. Back
8 See
paras 136, 146 below. Back
9 The
participants in the seminar were Dr Neil Chalmers, Lord Renfrew
of Kaimsthorn, Professor Norman Palmer, Dr Maurice Davies and
Dr Jeanette Greenfield. Back
10 The
Museums & Galleries Commission, the Museums Association, the
Museums Standing Advisory Group on Repatriation, Glasgow City
Council and the British Museum. Back
11 Lord
Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, the Standing Conference on Portable Antiquities
and Dr Neil Brodie. Back
12 The
British Art Market Federation, the Antiquities Dealers Association,
the Art Loss Register, Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams and Phillips. Back
13 Major
General Roberto Conforti, the Metropolitan Police Service, the
National Criminal Intelligence Service and HM Customs and Excise. Back
14 The
Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action, Professor
Jonathan Petropoulos, the Commission for Looted Art in Europe,
the Government of Greece and the Melina Mercouri Foundation. Back
15 Mr
Alan Howarth CBE MP, Minister for the Arts, Department for Culture,
Media and Sport. Back
16 See
pp lx-lxii for a list of memoranda published with this Report
and p lxiii for a list of memoranda available for public inspection,
together with details of how such papers can be inspected. Back
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