Repatriation

A portrait of Prince Alemayehu in July 1868

Buckingham Palace Refuses to Repatriate Remains of Ethiopian Prince

Taken from his home as a small child, Prince Dejatch Alemayehu died in England at age 18

One of the 12 antiquities that U.S. authorities returned to Turkey last month

U.S. Returns $33 Million of Looted Antiquities to Turkey

The collection of 12 items included a headless bronze statue dating to 225 C.E.

The analysis focused on 67 manillas from five shipwrecks off the coasts of Spain, Ghana, the United States and England. The largest study of manillas to date, the project aimed to use lead isotope analysis to pinpoint where the bracelets were produced. 

New Research

What Shipwrecks Reveal About the Origins of the Benin Bronzes

A new study traces the metal used to craft the brass sculptures to manilla bracelets produced in Germany and used as currency in the slave trade

The coin was one of 29 antiquities returned to Greece

Rare Gold Coin Celebrating Julius Caesar's Death Returned to Greece

Minted in 42 B.C.E., the looted coin broke auction records in 2020 when it sold for $4.2 million

Yemeni artifacts on display during a ceremony to celebrate their repatriation

The Smithsonian Will Temporarily House 77 Repatriated Artifacts Amid Unrest in Yemen

Until the items can be returned, the National Museum of Asian Art will keep them safe

One of the pieces of Cambodian jewelry returned by the estate of antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford

Looted Gold Jewelry Returns to Cambodia

Now back in Phnom Penh, the 77 items may have been worn by Angkorian royalty

The Djidji Ayôkwé was kept at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris for about a century.

French Museum Will Return 'Talking Drum' to Ivory Coast

Colonial settlers seized the ten-foot-long wooden instrument in 1916

A fresco stolen from an archaeological site at Herculaneum, an ancient town near Pompeii that was buried by Mount Vesuvius' eruption

Italy Celebrates Return of Looted Artifacts Worth $20 Million

Some of the five dozen items had been on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

An illustration of Charles Byrne, whose bones were displayed at the Hunterian Museum in London for some 200 years

Why a London Museum Is Removing the Skeleton of an 'Irish Giant' From View

Charles Byrne asked for his body to be buried at sea. Instead, an anatomist bought his bones and displayed them to the public

The icory cosmetic spoon was used to pour incense onto fires as an offering to the gods or the dead.

For the First Time, U.S. Repatriates an Artifact to the Palestinian Authority

The item, an ivory cosmetic spoon, dates back to between 800 and 700 B.C.E.

Egyptian officials with the ancient sarcophagus on January 2, 2023

U.S. Returns Looted Sarcophagus to Egypt

The "Green Coffin" had been at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences since 2013

Pope Francis with Archbishop Ieronymos II in 2021

Pope Francis Will Return Parthenon Sculptures to Greece

The fifth-century B.C.E. artifacts have been at the Vatican Museum for 200 years

Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens) of the Nisga’a Nation with the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole

Inside the Nisga'a Nation's Fight to Get a 36-Foot Totem Pole Back From Scotland

National Museums Scotland agreed to repatriate the object, which was stolen in 1929, following an in-person appeal by an Indigenous delegation

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass is leading a push to repatriate the Rosetta Stone, the Dendera Zodiac and the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt.

History of Now

Who Gets to Tell the Story of Ancient Egypt?

On the eve of the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, some of the country's artifacts, from the Rosetta Stone to the bust of Nefertiti, remain overseas

Beethoven’s handwritten manuscript for the fourth movement of his String Quartet in B-flat Major

Nazi-Looted Beethoven Manuscript Returned to Original Owners

The Czech Republic's Moravian Museum gave the document to the heirs of the Petschek family

Harvard's Peabody Museum received the collection of 700 Native American hair samples as a donation in 1935.

Harvard Museum Pledges to Return Hair Samples of 700 Native American Children

The samples come from students who were forced to attend government-run boarding schools

Leola One Feather, of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, observes as Native American artifacts are photographed in Barre, Massachusetts. 

Massachusetts Museum Returns Wounded Knee Artifacts to Sioux Tribes

A ceremony on Saturday marked the conclusion of a long repatriation process

Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) by Egon Schiele

Nazis Stole Two Paintings From a Jewish Cabaret Star. Now, His Heirs Are Selling Them

Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting underrepresented artists

Untitled artwork by Moses Johuma, a student at the Cyrene Mission School

Rare Collection of 1940s Art Returns to Zimbabwe After 70 Years

Students at the Cyrene Mission School created the works at a time when the African country was under colonial rule

Earlier this week, American investigators returned a looted rare quarter shekel silver coin to Israel.

Ancient Coin Made in Defiance of Roman Rule Returns to Israel

U.S. officials found the stolen coin at a Denver auction in 2017

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