It's our history now
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All else aside, I think this argument works for the Rosetta Stone. It was pretty much dumpster-dived out of a fort wall and the thing it’s most famous for happened in the UK.
Also, literal gift from the Egyptian government (by which I mean the Ottoman Empire).
Of course, we then have a lot of people here making arguments that definitely imply America has a right to all the cultural heritage the MFAA saved from WWII.
Better to be in the British museum than in a private collection or destroyed
Thank god for british museum. Especially for artifacts from the middle east.
A lot of those artifacts would have never survived if not for the British.
Probably not that hot a take: I went to the British museum for the first time a couple years ago and I was ready to be absolutely blown away. Home to the best loot collection on the planet right?
Honestly, nice museum, nice collections, absolutely nothing about it screamed "we looted all of the coolest stuff from the entire planet and put it here"
100%. The museum doesn't claim it as their own either, as the meme implies.
They do obviously own the assets now, but they explain where it was founded, who it was made by, what the significance of it was if any...
And everything's respectfully presented and well preserved.
They're hardly trying to destroy/steal people's culture like so many people accuse them of doing... If anything it's the opposite, they're embracing the cultures of others, and educating people about them.
Many items the local cultures weren't clinging onto anyway, nor were they that huge and impressive as you say. The biggest draw is that it's just unfamiliar and different, because it's from a different land and a different people.
I'm from a country which was colonized by the British (so just about everyone) I'm in agreement that it's way better in the British museum because my country is run by psychopaths.
You realize how little that narrows it down.
Easy.
Give it back, then in 10 years you demand it back arguing that the act of giving it was so historic that now the artifact is connected more to your country than theirs.
These countries have proven repeatedly that they are unwilling or unable to protect their own heritage.
Ever wonder why statues or other art of ancient figures or gods are always missing their faces or body parts? Yeah it’s because the locals vandalized them for building material or religious fanaticism.
And let’s not forget that many of these artifacts belonged not to the country demanding their return, but the dead civilization the founders of said country conquered in the first place!
This is just trying to put political pressure on Britain in the international stage + left wing Britons being left wing. Not a genuine desire to see these artifacts returned to their homeland.
And at the end of the day, transferring these artifacts from wherever to Britain is part of their history now.
Exactly. Holy shit. Of course there are a lot of places with genuine claims to historical artifacts being returned, especially if it’s recent (e.g. the plundering of Africa starting in the mid/late 1800s.)
But then you have places like Egypt talking about millennia old artifacts that have as much to do with modern Egypt (the nation) as with modern Italy or China, other than the location.
Dictatorial politicians who are more interested in power and self enrichment than helping their people of course latch on to international issues like this to look good at home while actually doing absolutely nothing
We saw the big advantage of a British Museum when ISIS militants destroyed artifacts in Irak and Syria. Or when people looted museums during the uprisings in Egypt. Of when the talibans blew up the buddhas.
Breaking rule no.5. British museum joke wouldn't have been so stale had it not been posted here 10 times a week. 🥱
"Please hand over the priceless one of a kind artifact, no we won't elaborate on why it's one of a kind"
The amount of spelling and grammatical errors tho 💀
Thank God for the British Museum.
Ah, museums. That controversial and complicated collection of artefacts
Return the Moai 🗿 mf British