Restitution news (ctd.)
December 20 2022
Picture: Cambridge Museums
More major returns have been announced. First, the Pope has instructed Vatican Museums to return its fragments of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece (or rather, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church). Second, Cambridge University will return over 100 Benin bronzes to Nigeria. The latter case involved the Charity Commission, and I think is the first major case of the Commission allowing museums legal cover to deaccession artworks, after the possibility was spotted by Alexander Herman of the Institute for Art and Law, thanks to an amendment in the new Charities Act (as reported in the Guardian here).
