artifacts Archives - Marketplace

British museums weigh the cost of repatriating exhibits

by Stephen Beard

Apr 11, 2023

Demands are growing for the return of artifacts looted or otherwise acquired during the period of the British Empire.

Museum-goers walk around the Parthenon Galleries at the British Museum. The "Elgin Marbles" may soon be returned to Greece to settle a dispute over the artifacts.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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Will Brexit turn the U.K. into a hub for the trade in looted antiquities?

by Stephen Beard

Dec 28, 2021

In its drive to rid itself of certain EU laws, Britain might encourage the trafficking of stolen cultural artifacts.

The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, a 3,500-year-old cuneiform clay tablet, is seen at a Washington, D.C., repatriation ceremony in September. The tablet was looted from Iraq and trafficked in the United Kingdom.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

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