Museums are purging their collections of looted treasures. Can they also get something in return? And what does it mean to be a museum in the 21st century? (Part 3 of “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard.”)
I mean, I'm quite famous for not doing what I'm told.
Well, that's very convenient for our purposes, I have to say.
You think we're 100% safe here?
Well, we can just keep a weather eye on those three.
Especially the man with the big fuzzy microphone.
That is me with Patricia Allen in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.
Allen is the curator of world cultures for the eleven institutions that make up the Glasgow museums.
This makes her responsible for all non european objects in their culture collections.
We have come to the Kelvingrove to see a group of objects known as Benin bronzes, artworks and artifacts looted by Britain from the historic kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria.
The last time I tried to see some Benin bronzes in a museum at the British Museum in London, our microphones were confiscated, and then, as it turned out, all the Africa galleries were closed that day.
Today in Glasgow, we are having better luck.
So all of these heads were made by ancestors.
An Oba is a Benin king.
A newly crowned Oba would make the head of the preceding Oba.
They're placed on altars along with other offerings, including things like a bell.
There's an ebon sword, maybe some of the ivory.
What is that?
That's a ceremonial sword carried by the oba.
I see.
So we have two of these heads, this head, and another one that used to be on display at St.