[CPProt.net] A Civilized Solution to Looted Art. Why throw museum curators in prison when there's a better way?

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

A Civilized Solution to Looted Art 
Why throw museum curators in prison when there's a better way? 

BY MELIK KAYLAN 
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST 

What does it mean that the Getty Museum's former antiquities curator, Marion
True, might be sentenced to prison (albeit in Italy, and in absentia) for
doing what most museums considered acceptable, even desirable, just two
decades ago? It means, at the very least, that a time-honored cultural cycle
has finally come to a close. It is surely no longer possible for museums, or
anyone else in the enlightened world, publicly to collect antiquities that
lack proper provenance without fear that punishment or dispossession will
ensue sooner or later.

The carabinieri have indicted Ms. True, in essence, for knowingly looting
their patrimony. The Greek government, in turn, has demanded the return of
several priceless vases and golden wreaths. Other aggrieved parties, such as
the Turks, might well enter the fray if the carabinieri choose to share with
them the evidence they've amassed. As the Getty squirms in the public
pillory, other American museums, not least New York's Metropolitan Museum of
Art, know that they are already in the crosshairs. In fact, the Met's
director, Phillipe de Montebello has already made one pilgrimage to Rome to
assess and limit the damage. The impending donation to his museum of the
Shelby White antiquities collection, one of the greatest in private hands,
seems unlikely now. The carabinieri contend that the collection has numerous
contraband objects from Italy. The morality around acquiring antiquities
parallels that of hunting certain species--it was OK for millennia and
suddenly isn't anymore.

Even in the ancient world, noble Roman households collected Greek artifacts
as a measure of intellectual wealth. A fine line separates the looting of
poorer or subject lands from the worthy impulse to preserve and display the
riches of history. The real turnaround in attitudes began in the last
century during the postimperial postwar years, as countries of origin awash
with ancient sites joined with high-minded idealists from the first world to
deplore "patrimony theft." The Unesco Draft Treaty rumbled through the 1970s
enjoining signatory nations to return looted objects. Various archaeological
and museum codes of ethics followed. But, in general, loopholes abounded and
those codes were often honored in the breach. Without solid evidence showing
that a disputed object came from a particular site on a particular day, and
without a plaintiff country's determined pursuit, treasures seldom went
back. Even today, Mr. De Montebello speaks rather defiantly of requiring
"incontrovertible proof."
Unfortunately, that is precisely what the carabinieri possess. Back in 1995,
European authorities raided premises belonging to veteran American dealer
Robert Hecht. They came up with boxfuls of incriminating diaries, documents,
Polaroids, receipts and the like. It has taken this long to tabulate the
material, but the carabinieri appear to be in a formidable position and a
truculent mood. For the Getty, the timing couldn't be worse--on the eve of
the long-awaited reopening of its Roman Villa in Malibu, Calif. No doubt
other American museum directors with classical collections will soon tread
the path to Rome.

One can imagine all manner of people brimming with schadenfreude over the
developments: patrimony activists, cultural nationalists, archaeological
purists, intellectuals and idealists of various stripes. I should be among
them perhaps, having written a series of investigative articles more than a
dozen years ago that led to the repatriation of significant treasures: the
Met's priceless Lydian Hoard of silver and gold artifacts dating from the
times of Croesus and Midas; the huge intricately carved $11 million
sarcophagus once on show at the Brooklyn Museum; and sundry other material.
I spent four months in the hospital for injuries inflicted by a
Mediterranean smuggling mafia that I was reporting on. I had seen ancient
sites from my boyhood in Turkey destroyed, Hittite rock carvings dynamited
and Lycian tombs bulldozed by gangs in search of treasure.

Yet it's hard to gloat over the current public humiliation of American
museums. Could there be a worse time for the U.S. to be depicted as an
imperial bullyboy looting the patrimony of poorer lands? In the current
climate, that so many American institutions have done so much to preserve
the world's heritage will be instantly eclipsed. But above all, the
polarization between museums and aggrieved nations serves neither side's
interests. The latter often don't have the resources to conserve or display
returned treasures, let alone protect them in the ground. (The Lydian Hoard
sits neglected and half-unpacked in a small museum in rural Turkey.) For
their part, American museums will spend the next decades terrified about
losing every object in their antiquities vitrines.

There is a civilized, even triumphant, solution for all concerned. American
museums should not grudgingly cough up artifacts piece by piece, like
thieves caught with swag. They should make a virtue out of adversity and
offer to share their disputed antiquities en masse with plaintiff
countries--this applies above all to the Getty, which can afford to lead the
world by example and precedent.
The Getty should flaunt its courage with a grand public change of heart. It
should offer to build Getty museums abroad in the Guggenheim Bilbao manner
to house its antiquities in style and to create a system of permanently
shared collections. It should fund Getty centers of training for local
archaeologists and conservators, who can excavate and protect their own
national patrimony and help circulate the exhibitions that the Getty will
share with their countries. The Getty would fill its Malibu Villa with
undreamed of counter-loans.

Host regions would surely benefit from the tremendous promotion and ensuing
tourism as Bilbao has. And, as the Guggenheim has shown, local investors
often back an American brand-name museum in unprecedented ways. It's a boon
for all sides and above all for America's public diplomacy. If American
museum directors wish to serve their own country first, this is precisely
the way to do it.

Mr. Kaylan writes for The Wall Street Journal about culture. 

http://www.opinionjournal.com/