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I would suggest that if it was not the British Museum then someone else would have these treasures and they would probably be tucked away far from public view o

I would suggest that if it was not the British Museum then someone else would have these treasures and they would probably be tucked away far from public view or possibly destroyed through lack of maintenance. I would not mind them being returned if they were guaranteed to remain in good condition and in public ownership. That may be possible now but for a long time it wasn't.

zorked 7y ago
Still looting though.
- cambalache 7y ago
  It is not when the British do it.
- celticninja 7y ago
  By who though? Many were looted by locals and sold on to private collectors and then made it to the British Museum. Are the brotha museum the looters, no, the looters were often locals looking to make money selling artifacts and European collectors who sought them out or actually did the looting.
knolax 7y ago
Who's to say the British Museum are the best equipped to maintain the artifacts? Why would you expect an organization that acquired these artifacts through violence to be able to properly take care of them, or even understand their significance? In GP's example the British are literally committing blasphemy against one of the artifacts. And this is for an Ethiopian artifact, which belongs to arguably the same religious group as the British, and is from a region the British have been aware of for more than a thousand years. > they would probably be tucked away far from public view IIRC for most museums the vast majority of items aren't on display either because they're not suitable for public display or because there simply isn't enough space to display them.
- celticninja 7y ago
  Why are the best equipped? The exhibits still exist, in great condition and can still be viewed by the public, so they must be doing something correct. Perhaps what you fail to realise is that a great many treasures have been looted and sold into private collections over the years. Looted and sold by locals, to anyone who can pay. So there is a good chance that anything that the British Museum received as loot would have been someone else's loot otherwise.

zorked 7y ago

Still looting though.

cambalache 7y ago
It is not when the British do it.
celticninja 7y ago
By who though? Many were looted by locals and sold on to private collectors and then made it to the British Museum. Are the brotha museum the looters, no, the looters were often locals looking to make money selling artifacts and European collectors who sought them out or actually did the looting.

knolax 7y ago

Who's to say the British Museum are the best equipped to maintain the artifacts? Why would you expect an organization that acquired these artifacts through violence to be able to properly take care of them, or even understand their significance? In GP's example the British are literally committing blasphemy against one of the artifacts. And this is for an Ethiopian artifact, which belongs to arguably the same religious group as the British, and is from a region the British have been aware of for more than a thousand years. > they would probably be tucked away far from public view IIRC for most museums the vast majority of items aren't on display either because they're not suitable for public display or because there simply isn't enough space to display them.

celticninja 7y ago
Why are the best equipped? The exhibits still exist, in great condition and can still be viewed by the public, so they must be doing something correct. Perhaps what you fail to realise is that a great many treasures have been looted and sold into private collections over the years. Looted and sold by locals, to anyone who can pay. So there is a good chance that anything that the British Museum received as loot would have been someone else's loot otherwise.