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Did you go to the Cairo museum before or after the most recent looting? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130823-museum-mallawi-egypt-looting-arti

Did you go to the Cairo museum before or after the most recent looting? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130823-museum-mallawi-egypt-looting-artifacts-archaeology-science-antiquities/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130823-museum... I want culturally significant archaeological artifacts preserved wherever the most stable environment is. I do not care which country it happens to be, as long the stability and budget for conservation is there. I think the urge some people feel to return items to whichever country currently occupies the same geographic origin that these artifacts come from is well-meaning, but fundamentally misguided. Preservation for future generations should be the guiding principle. If that means Object X resides somewhere else, then that is the best choice, period.

Larrikin 7y ago
Yes I went before the recent bad times in Egypt. I think your opinion is the wrong path to go down, because if we start putting arbitrary rules of stability on countries they will never be returned. Egypt was stable for decades. Artifacts were plundered by the Nazis during WWII just a few decades ago and a priceless Van Gogh was stolen just a few weeks ago, so is Europe no longer considered a safe space for those cultural artifacts in Europe? Museums in Africa should be setup and educated with the profits gained from stealing their heritage and they should be returned.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  Nazi artifact plundering and destruction was a huge loss for everyone. (Same with the firebombing of Dresden, for that matter.) Thankfully, the West also set up the MFAA post-war, and recovered a great deal of material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monuments,_Fine_Arts,_and_Archives_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monuments,_Fine_Arts,_and_Arch... The theft of a single painting is not the same as looters running rampant with destruction. Nowhere is 100% safe. That is the entire problem with long-term conservation! The best we can do is go for maximum political stability. When I younger, I saw first-hand exactly how much mainland China lost during the Cultural Revolution. Destruction of anything old was the (literal) rule of the day. Again, it was a loss to the history of humanity. What I want to avoid is events like this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-library-ancient-manuscripts https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-... On a long enough time scale, they become exceedingly common. The one surity of things is that if something is valued by one group, someone else will want to destroy it. The best we can do is ensure that these artefacts are in the most stable locations possible. Over time the particulars will undoubtedly change. But the base answer is the same.

Larrikin 7y ago

Yes I went before the recent bad times in Egypt. I think your opinion is the wrong path to go down, because if we start putting arbitrary rules of stability on countries they will never be returned. Egypt was stable for decades. Artifacts were plundered by the Nazis during WWII just a few decades ago and a priceless Van Gogh was stolen just a few weeks ago, so is Europe no longer considered a safe space for those cultural artifacts in Europe? Museums in Africa should be setup and educated with the profits gained from stealing their heritage and they should be returned.

Baeocystin 7y ago
Nazi artifact plundering and destruction was a huge loss for everyone. (Same with the firebombing of Dresden, for that matter.) Thankfully, the West also set up the MFAA post-war, and recovered a great deal of material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monuments,_Fine_Arts,_and_Archives_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monuments,_Fine_Arts,_and_Arch... The theft of a single painting is not the same as looters running rampant with destruction. Nowhere is 100% safe. That is the entire problem with long-term conservation! The best we can do is go for maximum political stability. When I younger, I saw first-hand exactly how much mainland China lost during the Cultural Revolution. Destruction of anything old was the (literal) rule of the day. Again, it was a loss to the history of humanity. What I want to avoid is events like this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-library-ancient-manuscripts https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-... On a long enough time scale, they become exceedingly common. The one surity of things is that if something is valued by one group, someone else will want to destroy it. The best we can do is ensure that these artefacts are in the most stable locations possible. Over time the particulars will undoubtedly change. But the base answer is the same.