Restitution debate

I think restitution is important: Each peoples have his own culture, this culture is what define them, what they are. It would be criminal to deprive an entire people of their own identity, like it would be to depriving the human kind of the richness of their culture. It is legitimate for Africans countries to want their artefacts back, but it is also judicious for Western countries to own these. It represent their past, without that we could not have discovered all these traces of history. What if Mona Lisa was returning back to Italy? The works of Picasso to Spain? It would be extremely more difficult for people to contemplate such wonders.

What if countries claiming their artefacts doesn’t have the necessary structure to welcome the relic? What if it deteriorates and disappears? No one could ever again see it.

Is the country of origin necessarily the country in which the cultural object was found, or rather, the one that gave rise to the culture corresponding to this object? Would not it be rather the country whose artist has the nationality? The one in which the artist realized the object? The one for which he was ordered? Or the one whose patron comes from?

In the idea and concept of a "universal museum", if we try to propose a definition, which will certainly be controversial and subject to debate, it is the notion of universality. The concept of universality is already inscribed in the heart of the museum, in its origin and its purpose; but with the universal museum it becomes its deepest essence. Thus, such a cultural institution that is the museum is intended to exhibit works of art, representative of all the cultural treasures of each nation without any distinction of origin or time.

The British Museum, the first universal museum in the world, pursues this universal vocation: it was created for the world community and opened free to all, in order to allow every citizen of whatever class and social background to learn about the world.

Accede the requests for the return of cultural objects to their countries of origin would be nothing less than emptying the great Western museums of their greatest treasures on display. What would become these museums? We would have to go to each country to learn about their cultural heritage, this creates a problem of accessibility since our museum offers access to different cultures in one place

This would not only not be beneficial for the finances of the host museum, the cultural and touristic aura of these countries, but also for the work itself which would no longer benefit from all the security, protection and development was providing its host museum.

The major Western museums highlight the fact that the museums of the countries of origin do not necessarily have the means and the structures necessary to protect their works, the political, social and financial contexts of some countries being at the very least very disturbed.

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