Cultural Property Demands: A Sign of Shifting Global Power

The other day I saw something in the news that reminded me of just how quickly the balance of power is shifting around the world.

The story was about the whole issue of “cultural property,” i.e., stolen or illegally exported cultural objects. The focus of the piece was that the French government was being forced by the Egyptian government to return five, 3200-year-old frescos (or paintings made on fresh plaster) that had been taken from a tomb from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. The frescos had been kept since early in the decade in the Louvre, in Paris, which is arguably, the Western world's most famous and important museum.

The Egyptians had threatened in October to discontinue all relations with the Louvre, if the pieces weren’t promptly returned, and to prohibit future archeological work in Egypt, by the museum.

France understood and, as an indication of its new-found good faith, one of the frescos was returned, personally, to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Up until very recently, and over the better part of the past 500 years or so – a period of history that was absolutely dominated by western Europe and the United States – such a scene would have never taken place. Egypt would never have had the temerity to stand up to one of the Western powers and demand the return of its “cultural property.” And even if it had done so, France, most probably, would have totally ignored the country’s request.

With the growing military and economic power in places such as China, Brazil, India, Venezuela, the Middle East and parts of Africa, there’s evidence of a growing willingness on the part of emerging nations to demand the return of cultural artifacts that had been taken from them over the years as spoils of hundreds of one-sided wars.

Egypt also recently “stepped to” Germany to raise the question of whether a 3500-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, taken from their country by a German archeologist in 1912, and now on exhibit at Berlin’s Neues Museum, should also be returned to their northern African country.

It's not just Egypt. Iraq has demanded the return of some of its own cultural property, including the Samarra Islamic antiquities, whose exportation from Iraq and into England had been condoned by none other than Winston Churchill early in the 20th Century, and thousands of other cultural items that were looted during the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003. Now emboldened by having some of the world’s largest oil reserves, the Iraqis have been raising these issues since 1980.

On another front in the same cultural war, a senior Chinese diplomat, Liu Zhenmin, recently said at the United Nations that China is now committed to having its illegally taken cultural relics returned to its possession. Citing looting and plundering during the 1800’s by Western powers, Liu called the continued possession of such Chinese artifacts by the West “a sacrilege to history and civilization.”

The thinking here is that if China, the world’s largest military and economic power (no matter how much the West tries to explain it otherwise) wants its “stuff” back, it will probably be returned.

As an African American, I began to be aware, in my early 20’s, of the importance of having exposure to symbols of my African heritage, including African and African-American artwork, where I lived and where I worked.

It’s why the French, when they’re not busy importing other countries' cultural artifacts, surround themselves with artwork by Delacroix, Rodin, Monet and Matisse. It’s why the Italians make a point of keeping the works of DaVinci, Michelangelo and Raphael prominent in their own environments.

Early on, I found myself drawn to the royal art of Benin, especially the unique bronze sculptures produced by artisans of that southern Nigerian kingdom. Although I don’t consider myself an art collector, I have, over the years, owned several pieces of Benin sculpture, including multi-figured plaques, Oba (king) heads, and statues of leopards, warriors and court musicians, all crafted in bronze.

I’d pick them up at Odunde, at other African festivals, or wherever they were available.
While I loved Benin bronzes, I had also been very much aware of the ugly series of events that introduced these beautiful works of art to the West. In 1897, the British sent a 1500-man army to the country, on what was called the Benin Punitive Expedition, to punish the Oba and his people for their refusal to be subservient to the British, who had claimed control of all of Nigeria in 1884, as part of the infamous Berlin Conference, wherein the European nations “whacked up” all of Africa and allocated pieces to themselves, as colonies.

Equipped with Maxim machine guns, the British decimated the Oba’s 130,000-man army, packed up virtually everything of value in the country, including the “bronzes,” and auctioned them to Western European and U.S. museums. The Oba, himself, was sent into exile.

It’s impossible today to separate the beauty and dignity of the” bronzes” from the brutality and vindictiveness of the British, who literally attempted to eliminate the culture of the Kingdom of Benin during the Expedition.

Clearly, the Benin "bronzes" that most of us common black folks purchase at street festivals are, merely, well-produced replicas made to appear antique, and are not a part of the original spoils of the Punitive Expedition. Not actually having the 100- and 200-year-old originals makes the beauty and significance of the art no less impactful for me. Maybe the Western museums should learn to get more comfortable with the same concept.

As I've watched the Iraqis, Egyptians, Chinese and others begin the process of reclaiming their cultures, I have been equally impressed to see that the Nigerian Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Kumbo Kayode, has demanded, in a letter sent originally in September, 2008, that the West’s ill-gotten original bronzes and other original artwork be returned to Nigeria

Those who are familiar with how the original bronzes were dispersed say that about 580 of the pieces are being held at the Ethnologische Museum in Berlin; that another 400 or so are being kept at the Field Museum in Chicago and that, as recently as October 2008, the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archeology presented an exhibition called: “Iyare! Splendor and Tension in Benin’s Palace Theatre,” which featured “nearly 100 objects from the Penn Museum’s world-renowned collection of cast bronzes, carved ivories and wooden artifacts."

Not unexpectedly, the initial response to the Nigerian minister’s request to have his country’s “cultural property” returned was blunt, “ …. directors of four museums (declared) that they have no intention of returning these objects and advising the Nigerians to forget the past and look to the future.”

You’ve got to wonder what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot. If the Nigerians were holding in a museum in their capital city, Abuja, valuable artifacts taken by force by Africans from the court of Henry VIII or the first Queen Elizabeth, would the British be satisfied to be told that they should “forget the past and look to the future?”

Somehow, I don’t think so.

Here, again, though, the very fact that Nigeria is staking its claim to its own culture and demanding the return of its artifacts from the formerly omnipotent Western powers is a sign that something very different really is happening among the world’s nations, that the balance of power really is shifting.

In the midst of everything else that’s going on, please pay special attention to this whole “cultural property” thing. I guarantee there's more to come.

Hey, can you ever look at an archeological museum again without considering its politics?


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