In the debate surrounding repatriated artefacts, Henry Hill believes that museum trustees are agreeing to loans that deliberately undermine the government.
Well, there is absolutely no excuse for being surprised. Just a week after a Ghanaian monarch received a collection of loaned artefacts from the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum, he’s angling to keep hold of them permanently.
So far, the proposition is very civil. The loan is for three years, and the media reports that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, traditional ruler of the Asante people, hopes that this will be sufficient time for the United Kingdom to elect a new government and change the law that currently forbids museums giving away parts of the national collection.
We must therefore hope that, in the absence of such reform, he’ll give them back. But there must be the nagging fear that we’re going to end up like Mr Burns (“Give what back?”)...Keep reading on The Critic.
Well, there is absolutely no excuse for being surprised. Just a week after a Ghanaian monarch received a collection of loaned artefacts from the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum, he’s angling to keep hold of them permanently.
So far, the proposition is very civil. The loan is for three years, and the media reports that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, traditional ruler of the Asante people, hopes that this will be sufficient time for the United Kingdom to elect a new government and change the law that currently forbids museums giving away parts of the national collection.
We must therefore hope that, in the absence of such reform, he’ll give them back. But there must be the nagging fear that we’re going to end up like Mr Burns (“Give what back?”)...Keep reading on The Critic.