Can the British Museum Lend Its Way Out of Criticisms Over Its Colonial Holdings?

The British Museum is sending some of its prized art and artifacts on long-term loan to countries that the British Empire previously colonized. While those nations have long called for the repatriation of objects they consider stolen, the institution may be hoping to blunt some of those criticisms by sending valuable historical items—though not always those that come from the recipients of the loans. 

A Mumbai museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), is now host to a loan of some 80 artifacts, including an ancient wooden model of an Egyptian riverboat and devotional Sumerian statues from 2200 BCE, as well as a Roman mosaic from London and a marble bust of Roman emperor Augustus, the Telegraph reports, noting that it is the largest ever loan of ancient material to India and the first deal of its kind between the British Museum and a non-Western museum.

“You don’t have to embarrass your own country to do something positive with another country,” British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan told the Telegraph. “It can actually be very beneficial. Cultural diplomacy, that’s what museums should do.”

The artifacts are on view in a gallery that disputes “colonial misinterpretation” by highlighting India’s contributions to civilization, says the paper.

“All cultures are great cultures and we need to respect all cultures,” said Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director general of the CSMVS museum. “Through this exhibition, there is decolonisation, an attempt is made to decolonise the narrative. We suffered for many years and colonisation penetrated into our education, our culture. There is a kind of emergence. I’m going to use the word ‘revolt’, but we are emerging with dignity and are very proud of history.”

The British Museum holds many contested artworks, including a number of bronze sculptures from the African kingdom of Benin, known as the Benin Bronzes, and the Parthenon Marbles (formerly known as the Elgin Marbles), from Athens. The British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the institution from turning over such contested items, though talks have long been underway between British and Greek authorities about a possible loan of the marbles. The museum also previously lent some looted Asante artworks to a museum show in Ghana.

One notorious example of misappropriated treasures from India’s colonial era is the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which originated in the Kollur mine in current-day Andhra Pradesh, India, and now part of the Crown Jewels. (The diamond is currently set in Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and is housed in the Tower of London, along with the rest of the Crown Jewels; it is not owned by the British Museum.) It was surrendered to Queen Victoria when she was crowned Empress of India. India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have all demanded its return. 

The British Museum also holds the Amaravati Marbles, which come from the Great Shrine of Amaravati, built around 200 BCE, also in Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest and most important Buddhist monuments in ancient India.

Many museums throughout the West have made an effort in recent years to return looted artifacts to their countries of origin, including examples from India. Cullinan’s proposal explores a different route.

“There is another model, a much more positive one of collaboration rather than this kind of zero-sum, binary, all-or-nothing model that people put forward,” Cullinan told the Telegraph. “We think that this model that we are developing is a very positive one, and is very innovative. Every case is different, you can never apply the same criteria to two different cultures, countries or territories. Some are more difficult than others. But we’re still trying.”