Treasures in trusted hands: negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects

Title

Treasures in trusted hands: negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects

Creator

Jos van Beurden

Publisher

Sidestone Press

Date

2017

Description

Charting the one-way traffic of cultural and historical objects during five centuries of European colonialism, this book presents examples of disappeared colonial objects and systematises these into war booty, confiscations by missionaries and contestable acquisitions by private persons and other categories. Former colonies consider this as a historical injustice that has not been undone.

As there is no consensus on how to deal with colonial objects, disputes about other categories of contestable objects are analysed. For Nazi-looted art-works, the 1998 Washington Conference Principles have been widely accepted. Although non-binding, they promote fair and just solutions and help people to reclaim art works that they lost involuntarily.
To promote solutions for colonial objects, Principles for Dealing with Colonial Cultural and Historical Objects are presented, based on the 1998 Washington Conference Principles.

Source

Open access

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