How objects get to museums

How objects get to museums

"Public museums are wonderful spaces because they allow us to see and imagine things and societies that most of us will never get to witness firsthand. At the same time, we rarely question how these objects have been obtained; how they move through the world and ultimately come to rest in a museum where we can see and be moved by them". [...] Many collections, private and public, contain items that have been obtained by violent means - previously by imperial and colonial governments, and more recently through looting during stressful times such as civil war.

The argument for considering ancient objects as global cultural heritage and therefore displaying them in "universal" museums such as the Met or the British Museum has some credibility. The Met will definitely have more visitors than Koh Ker this year, and so the statues would be seen by more people if they remained at the Met. Some, like Getty curator James Cuno, make the case that "encylopaedic museums" spur curiosity about distant places, that nationalist notions of cultural property are narrow".