The British Museum could repatriate more disputed artefacts from around the world following the return of treasures to Ghana, it emerged yesterday.
Experts said legislation banning the museum from permanently giving away artifacts would not prohibit loans to other countries, such as this month’s historic agreement on the return of Asante gold to Ghana.
Museum trustee Chris Gosden said the British Museum Act 1963 was not an “impediment” to other loan arrangements in the future.
But a similar deal over the Elgin Marbles remains problematic as it would require Greece to accept the British Museum as the legal owner of the sculptures, something it has always rejected.
The sculptures, taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are the London institution’s most controversial exhibition and a source of diplomatic tension between Britain and Greece, which maintains they were stolen by Lord Elgin.
Asantehene King Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II (pictured) attends the first public exhibition of looted artifacts returned by museums in the United Kingdom and the United States to Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana, on May 1, 2024.
Objects in a display case at his home in Ghana after being returned from museums in Britain and the United States.
A selection of Asante gold taken from Ghana over 100 years ago and currently on loan to the V&A Museum in London.
A selection of looted objects en route to be presented to Asantehene King Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II
But experts suggested that other cultural artifacts could be repatriated to their countries of origin if their national governments were willing to accept loan deals.
The return of Asante gold to Ghana in a joint project with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) marked the first time British institutions sent artefacts to Africa.
The treasures were returned to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the king or ‘Asantehene’ of the Asante, after he accepted the British Museum’s legal ownership of the gold royal insignia, confiscated by British troops during the wars of 1874 and 1896.
The British Museum Act 1963 prohibits the London institution from permanently giving away artefacts, although there have been calls for the legislation to be reviewed.
Professor Gosden said The Daily Telegraph: ‘The 1963 Act is not entirely irrelevant, but neither is it the impediment that it might be considered to be. It’s about the relationship and what is possible within the relationship.’
Other repatriation attempts, including that of the Benin Bronzes, have previously been stymied when nations refused to accept the museum’s legal ownership of the relics.