Getty Museum knowingly bought archeological treasures stolen from Italy, i

[emad]

Getty Museum knowingly bought archeological treasures stolen from Italy, investigation claims

Barbara McMahon in Rome
Tuesday September 27, 2005
The Guardian


The world's richest art institution knowingly bought scores of archeological treasures looted from Italy, it has been alleged.
Despite being warned as far back as 1985 that dealers were selling stolen goods, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles continued to buy them.

The practice continued for so long that, according to the museum's internal review, almost half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection are likely to have been acquired illegally.

New evidence of the scale of what Italy is calling "the Getty scandal" emerged yesterday, painting a picture of the fabulously wealthy institution riding roughshod over a ban on taking Italy's historic treasures out of the country.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which has obtained hundreds of pages of memos, purchase agreements and correspondence records from the museum in Malibu, high-ranking staff were complicit or simply turned a blind eye to the plundering of the priceless antiquities.
The investigation makes several main claims:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1579170,00.html

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. The Getty's deep pockets.....

....tended to price everyone but the Getty right out of the market even when the pieces were kosher.

[cssmall]

2. Take their licensing status, close the museum and put the Gettys in jail.

Make an example now. Archaeological pursuit is best handled by archaeologists, not museums and their rich founders. And, while they're at it, they could throw Zahi Hawass in jail with them. Fakes, crooks and liars.

[LibertyLover]

3. Zahi

What do you have against Dr. Hawass? Just curious.

[cssmall]

5. You mean beside the fact that he is as corrupt as some of these museums?

Hawass has done nothing in aiding any archaeological sites in Egypt, saving only to add in his glory. Not to mention that it took an archaeologist paying him, not the government, to be able to work in Egypt (I'll find the source later, I have it sitting around my house and I'm packing up to move :( ) The only good thing he has done as President of the Egyptian Antiquites is to make sure Egyptian artifacts come back or stay in Egypt, for that I give him respect.

[tanyev]

10. Is that the guy who is always front and center on the cheesy

prime time specials they've had about unlocking the secret of the pyramids? I only watched one of those and I couldn't believe how phony and manipulative they were. Just do the work and film a documentary while you're doing it. The archaeology will speak for itself.

[cssmall]

11. That's exactly what you're supposed to do.

[northzax]

4. do we have to exhume J. Paul?

since he's the Getty in question?

if there is evidence of theft, the procedure is standard, the antiquities are returned to their owners, without compensation to the buyer.

[cssmall]

6. That's just not enough. They are returned to their owners.

Good, but force something to be DONE about this, don't just give them back. Put governmental pressure on these people, throw them in jail, and take away their rights to EVER own or operate museum again. It will actually make archaeological looting and theft less prevalent.

Note that I have a personal understanding of this and when fake archaeologists go out and an steal artifacts from sites or museums, it hurts the field.

[northzax]

7. accepting stolen property

with the knowledge, or reasonable expectation that it is stolen is a crime and should be prosecuted, obviously.

the only way to go after an organization like this is with racketeering laws.
the problem is that every antiquity was stolen or obtained with questionable legality at some point, should everything be returned to the place of origin? it's an interesting question. In essence, the only museum outside of a native population that is entitled to the entirety of it's artifacts is the National Museum of the American Indian in DC, since it is operated by native populations and everything in it was donated or approved by those populations.

You can make a case for the return of the Elgin Marbles, but what about Venus de Milo? The Met's Egyptian collection? or anything else of the sort?

[cssmall]

8. I agree with that, but when something has been proven, then I just get

livid with the fact that it's a slap on the wrist and nothing else. It should hurt more than just giving antiquities back. but, then, it's the rich.

[northzax]

9. the staffers at the museum are the vulerable ones

they are the ones who purchase things (the Getty is administered by a Trust, which employs professionals to run the museum) those people are academics and certainly not 'rich' in the vein of the founder and trustees of the institution.

is there a role for antiquities in museums outside of the culture that developed them? should everything be returned to the location of development, or is there a reasonable statute of limitations on them? Can the new goverment of Iraq, for instance, demand the return of any antiquity related to Mesopotamia, simply based on geographical location and the corruptness of any previous governments?

[Bridget Burke]

12. Is 1985 past the statute of limitations?

European & American museums are stuffed with loot stolen from other countries. Greece is still trying to get the Elgin marbles back. It's not a simple matter.

But there are records that the Getty was buying stolen artwork from 1985 to the present. That's much more recent.

Speaking of Iraq--did the Getty get any of the swag "liberated" when we invaded?