Can the British Museum Lend Its Means Out of Criticisms On Colonialism?

The British Museum is sending a few of its prized artwork and artifacts on long-term mortgage to international locations that the British Empire beforehand colonized. Whereas these nations have lengthy known as for the repatriation of objects they contemplate stolen, the establishment could also be hoping to blunt a few of these criticisms by sending useful historic gadgets—although not all the time those who come from the recipients of the loans. 

A Mumbai museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), is now host to a mortgage of some 80 artifacts, together with an historic picket mannequin of an Egyptian riverboat and devotional Sumerian statues from 2200 BCE, in addition to a Roman mosaic from London and a marble bust of Roman emperor Augustus, the Telegraph studies, noting that it’s the largest ever mortgage of historic materials to India and the primary deal of its form between the British Museum and a non-Western museum.

“You don’t must embarrass your individual nation to do one thing optimistic with one other nation,” British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan instructed the Telegraph. “It may really be very helpful. Cultural diplomacy, that’s what museums ought to do.”

The artifacts are on view in a gallery that disputes “colonial misinterpretation” by highlighting India’s contributions to civilization, says the paper.

“All cultures are nice cultures and we have to respect all cultures,” stated Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director basic of the CSMVS museum. “Via this exhibition, there may be decolonisation, an try is made to decolonise the narrative. We suffered for a few years and colonisation penetrated into our training, our tradition. There’s a form of emergence. I’m going to make use of the phrase ‘revolt’, however we’re rising with dignity and are very pleased with historical past.”

The British Museum holds many contested artworks, together with numerous bronze sculptures from the African kingdom of Benin, generally known as the Benin Bronzes, and the Parthenon Marbles (previously generally known as the Elgin Marbles), from Athens. The British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the establishment from turning over such contested gadgets, although talks have lengthy been underway between British and Greek authorities about a attainable mortgage of the marbles. The museum additionally beforehand lent some looted Asante artworks to a museum present in Ghana.

One infamous instance of misappropriated treasures from India’s colonial period is the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which originated within the Kollur mine in current-day Andhra Pradesh, India, and now a part of the Crown Jewels. (The diamond is at the moment set in Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mom and is housed within the Tower of London, together with the remainder of the Crown Jewels; it isn’t owned by the British Museum.) It was surrendered to Queen Victoria when she was topped Empress of India. India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have all demanded its return. 

The British Museum additionally holds the Amaravati Marbles, which come from the Nice Shrine of Amaravati, constructed round 200 BCE, additionally in Andhra Pradesh, one of many largest and most essential Buddhist monuments in historic India.

Many museums all through the West have made an effort lately to return looted artifacts to their international locations of origin, together with examples from India. Cullinan’s proposal explores a distinct route.

“There may be one other mannequin, a way more optimistic certainly one of collaboration somewhat than this sort of zero-sum, binary, all-or-nothing mannequin that individuals put ahead,” Cullinan instructed the Telegraph. “We predict that this mannequin that we’re creating is a really optimistic one, and may be very revolutionary. Each case is totally different, you’ll be able to by no means apply the identical standards to 2 totally different cultures, international locations or territories. Some are tougher than others. However we’re nonetheless attempting.”