The World’s biggest museum, having been open for a hundred years or more, have millions of artefacts, many of which were acquired during conflicts or periods of colonial rule over other countries. Nowadays, they are facing more and more acquisitions from the countries, who now wish to reclaim their history as independent nations. With countries increasingly reflecting on their colonial history and seeking to repatriate these artefacts, museums face a serious question: shall they continue keeping these historical artifacts or shall the object of others history past be returned?
First of all, being a part of foreign diplomacy, the repatriation of artifacts can level up diplomatic relations between two countries. Moreover, not only repatriation can fulfill such goal, but also a temperate exhibitions and artifacts exchanges or gifts. Nowadays, in honour of 75 years since the establishment of Russian-Chinese diplomatic relations, the Hermitage and the Forbidden city are holding a mutual exchange of exhibitions. Secondly, exhibits are evidences of our past, so they play crucial role in unravelling the mysteries of history, and are being used in many researches. However, in countries who booted such treasures during colonial times, authorities do not consider them as “precious”, so they are just covering with dust. For example, China’s ancient inscriptions on bones, jiaguwen, are being kept in many countries, including the Hermitage Museum in Russia, but they were put in the storerooms of museum, and only this year they were presented to public. Finally, art objects form national heritage of the country, and when it is stored “outside”, it questions the country’s sovereignty and status on international polity. Therefore, th objects of art and culture must be exhibited on their motherland, otherwise their lost can lead to the partial loss of nation’s heritage, as future generations won’t be able to see them. The British museum is the evidence of colonial cruelty, conducted towards plenty of states, including countries in Africa, India, China, etc.
The problem of giving back the arts goes beyond the wish and have a lot of legislative difficulties: if authorities of one country or museum would agree to return at least one collection to other country, it will create a precedent for others. Hypothetically, if British museum would agree to give back centerpieces of Asante gold collection (modern Ghana), then it must return everything, that was stolen, borrowed, booted from another countries. Moreover, some kingdoms and empires, that originally owned these relicts, have stopped their existence. For example, the collection of manuscripts from Tangut’s state Xi Xia, which was destroyed by Mongols in 13th century, technically, belongs to Xi Xia, however, China claims its right of property. Most of the world’s greatest museums, like Louvre or British museum, provide best conditions of keeping, using high technologies, but some developing countries just do not have money on creating such conditions and organizing exhibitions, and the question of transportation is also controversial. Finally, due to technological breakdown, museums can create virtual collections that can be viewed absolutely free of charge from anywhere in the world, so you don’t have to go to a museum to see an artefact. The Dunhuang collection of Buddhist murals was fully scanned in the best quality.