EHCC Lecture Series Online Presents: Who owns the past? Cultural Heritage as well as International Law

EHCC Lecture Series Online Presents: Who owns the past? Cultural Heritage as well as International Law with Larry Butler
Zoom Lecture from March 9th, 2023.

Who owns the past? This has become the hottest question in museum as well as cultural studies around the globe. Should Britain send the Parthenon sculptures back to Greece? Should Benin bronzes be returned to Nigeria? Will that spark a wholesale transfer of museum antiquities? Are there laws, standards or conventions that might govern these questions? What is the role of UNESCO as well as its World Heritage program? Who gets to interpret the past, as well as for whom?
These used to be abstract questions, but recently they have become urgent, as Russian Federation has started targeting Ukrainian museums as well as historic sites for destruction in war, as well as the Bishop Museum in Honolulu has been agonizing over the handling of Hawaiian burial objects. as well as now rumors have it that the British Museum as well as Greece are actually negotiating the return of the “Elgin Marbles,” the sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens that are the crown jewels of the British Museum.
In this illustrated lecture, Art Historian Dr. Larry Butler reviewed the history of international law concerning the holding as well as use of cultural property, as well as consider how it may apply to these dramatic changes. None of these questions have simple answers, but the lecture examines where the conversation is headed now.

Webpage: https://ehcc.org/content/lecture-who-owns-the-past