Turkey Battles Museums for Return of Antiquities

Orpheus mosaic from the 2nd Century AD repatriated
by the Dallas Museum of Art to Turkey

Since the Arab Spring the new Turkish government is taking aggressive measures against American and European museums by demanding the return of antiquities. In the renewed search for a national identity, Turkey is embarking on what some museums are calling “cultural blackmail.” Under the leadership of Cultural Minister Ertugrul Gunay, Turkey is refusing to lend objects for exhibitions unless antiquities with a unknown provenance are returned to the country, delaying all licenses for archeological excavations, and publicly denouncing museums as enablers of illicit looting" (Mary Elizabeth Williams, "Turkey Battles Museums for Return of Antiquities Following Arab Spring" Center for Art Law December 10, 2012)

This affects US museums too. In December 2012,

the Dallas Museum of Art agreed to return the 2nd AD Orpheus Mosaic to Turkey. They purchased the mosaic in 1999 from Christie’s for US$85,000. Upon discovering that the mosaic was looted, Maxwell Anderson, the museum’s director, notified the Turkish government and negotiated an exchange: the mosaic will be returned to Turkey as long as they agree to loan objects to the Dallas Museum for temporary exhibitions. This is the first pre-emptive move by an American museum, and provides the Dallas Museum with a monopoly on Turkish objects allowed for temporary display in the United States.

Turkey’s aggressive retentionist policies and the consequent measures taken against large international museums has raised controversy in the art world. It has returned the focus of repatriation again to the question: Who Owns Antiquity?