Long overdue repatriation of cultural artifacts to their countries of origin is occurring worldwide. Each situation involves complex logistical and political challenges and often requires innovative approaches.

The most well-known repatriation activity involves return of looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria. Recent developments in Nigeria have focused attention on issues of rightful ownership within the country of origin and questions of how these controversies are to be resolved. Stay tuned for an in-depth discussion of the Benin bronzes story. Below are a few other current repatriation situations that demonstrate the range of issues involved and the broad possibilities for resolving them.

In September 2024, the Dutch government returned to Indonesia 288 objects taken during the colonial era, most looted from Bali in 1906. Weeks later, in October 2024, the National Museum of Indonesia reopened after a major fire in 2023, with an inaugural exhibition of almost 500 items which were returned to Indonesia and Sri Lanka by the Dutch government in July 2023, entitled Repatriation Exhibition: The Return of Cultural Heritage and Knowledge of the Archipelago. The repatriations have followed claims from the countries of origin and review by the Colonial Collections Committee appointed by the government. A new government led by a far-right political party took office in July, 2024 and has expressed opposition to the repatriations prior to the elections; however, policy changes have yet to be proposed.

Although private UK museums have been repatriating objects, the British Museum has — until now — steadfastly maintained that UK law prohibits national museums from disposing of objects in their collections. This argument has most famously been made in connection with the Parthenon marbles but has also been invoked to prevent the return of other objects. There appears to be a chink in that armor as Lisa Nandy, UK secretary of state for culture, has said the government is in discussions with national museums about repatriating certain objects and that reform of that law is under consideration.

Meanwhile, transfer of ownership does not always coincide with physical possession. For example, a New Zealand family has recently repatriated 14 ancient bronze and stone sculptures to the Republic of Yemen. However, the works are temporarily being studied and catalogued at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Under an agreement between the Metropolitan and the government of Yemen, they will be physically returned when Yemen’s political situation has stabilized.

In fact, repatriation does not always involve any physical activity. For example, President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife, in connection with a visit to the Ukrainian Museum in New York, wrote in social media about returning to Ukraine artists appropriated by Russia:

Today we continue the decolonisation of Ukrainian art in New York… The Ukrainian Museum presents our modernist and avant-garde artists to the United States and visitors from all over the world precisely as Ukrainian, not Russian or Soviet, as the empire has positioned them for years.

(As we have previously discussed, Russia has engaged in a systematic campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural heritage, including transforming the ruins of the ancient city of Tauric Chersonese in Crimea into a Russian historical and archeological site.)

Finally, there is now a global movement known as rematriation led by Indigenous women with the goal of restoring to the earth, and particularly to women, lifeways held as sacred that were devastated by colonization.