Loot

Jala Wahid confronts the colonial legacy of the British Museum in London exhibition

The Kurdish artist delves into the histories of looted artefacts and questions the ethics of their existence in Western museums

The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand

The museum had been pressured and petitioned for years to return objects tied to smuggler Douglas Latchford

Kwer'ata Re'esu: the astonishing story of Ethiopia's most treasured icon

Plus, the AI copyright debate in the US and the end of China’s museum boom

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California man found guilty of smuggling ancient Roman mosaic looted from Syria into US

Mohamad Alcharihi faces up to two years in prison and will be sentenced at the end of August

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‘Easily recognisable fakes’ among artefacts repatriated to Italy from the US

Forged objects have been identified among the 60 antiquities returned amid much fanfare earlier this year

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Revelations in Cambodia looting scandal name ‘scholar’ at Denver Art Museum as accomplice to disgraced dealer Douglas Latchford

Researcher Emma Bunker aided the notorious looter in sourcing and selling Southeast Asian antiquities

Looted antiquities returned to Turkey and Italy were seized from New York home of Met trustee Shelby White

An ongoing investigation into White's collection expects to see more objects repatriated in the future

Ukrainian forces win back Kherson region—but Russia has reportedly looted its art collection

The Ukraine territory is one of four illegally annexed on 30 September with decrees by Russian President Vladimir Putin

Poland demands Russia return seven paintings it claims were looted during Second World War

Putin’s international cultural envoy, Mikhail Shvydkoy, says Poland’s request has no legal grounds

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Allegedly stolen ancient Cambodian sculptures airbrushed from photoshoot of ‘most beautiful home in America’

Cambodian government says stone artefacts kept at San Francisco home of billionaire Lindemann family match those looted from sacred site

The hunt for looted Cambodian objects—are they hidden in the West's museums?

Plus, the dark truth of the Marcos family’s extravagance and Ruth Asawa at Modern Art Oxford

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Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts

Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques

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Iron Age rock art depicting ancient Gods discovered beneath Turkish home

The ancient inscriptions were in a hidden tunnel complex found by looters before archaeologists carried out a rescue mission

Louvre hosts major international conference to fight trafficking of cultural goods

Meeting, organised by France, aims to define new proposals to be adopted by the European Commission

Lootnews

German museums may have thousands of looted relics from China’s Imperial Palace, research group believes

Collaborative research by major German institutions may expose huge amounts of Chinese objects taken during Boxer Rebellion

Ye Charlotte Ming

Belgium plans to hand back colonial loot to DR Congo

New law will set up expert commission to sift through thousands of objects at the Royal Museum for Central Africa

Looted 2,700-year-old bricks—discovered in Swiss warehouse—are returned to Iran

Before the discovery of the more than 50 painted blocks, “the richness of Mannaean civilisation had not been appreciated”, expert says

Looted Maqdala objects—pulled from rural English auction at the last minute—will be returned to Ethiopia

Busby auction house confirms it has "negotiated a settlement" after Ethiopian officials requested the return of items stolen by British troops in a brutal 1868 battle

Will the Queen return her Benin bronze? How the African treasure was looted not once, but twice

The 17th-century oba head was plucked from the Nigerian National Museum and given to Elizabeth II as a thank-you gift

Bonhams consignor withdraws looted Nepalese sculptures from auction

The five figures of Hindu gods once adorned a gilded temple gateway in a Unesco world heritage site

Lootnews

Looted Libyan sculpture seized at Heathrow Airport heads back home with help from the British Museum

The funerary piece was illicitly excavated from the ancient city of Cyrene which is under threat from property developers

Global survey: where in the world are the Benin bronzes?

Around 160 institutions hold looted Benin artefacts, but how many are prepared to give them back? We asked museums in five countries for their position on restitution

Looted artcomment

Is there loot lurking in your collection? Find out—before someone else does

Do your research and and check whether you unwittingly own stolen works, otherwise it could tarnish your reputation

London’s Horniman Museum—home to 15 Benin bronzes—announces new ‘transparent procedures’ for looted object requests

South London museum has released new policies on restitution but says it will need to seek legal advice about the right to return artefacts

German Nazi-looted art panel recommends return of Franz Marc’s Foxes to heirs of Jewish banker

The decision on whether to return the painting, which hangs in Dusseldorf’s Kunstpalast, will be made by the city assembly in April

Podcastspodcast

Benin bronzes: looted treasures will return to Nigeria at last

Plus, the newly discovered Van Gogh is sold and artist Rana Begum on Tess Jaray

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. with guest speakers Catherine Hickley and Martin Bailey. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Henrietta Bentall

University of Aberdeen to return Benin bronze looted by British troops to Nigeria

The sculpture of an oba’s head was “acquired in a way that we now consider to have been extremely immoral,” the university says

French Senate and government lock horns on restitution

Deputies rejected senators' proposal for a national council to advise the government on future restitution claims

Hunt still on for a Van Gogh self-portrait lost deep in a salt mine during the Second World War

The Magdeburg masterpiece may have been burned at the end of hostilities—but some believe it might have been looted and survive

a blog by Martin Bailey