The Solution for Vulnerable Art

The Committee for Cultural Policy's report on the destruction of ancient statuary in Mosul exposes the fallacy of the nation-centred models of cultural preservation criticised by Merriman:

The destruction at Nineveh is an excruciatingly painful example of the losses that could result from a policy that demands all art from source countries remain there. The notion that all art belongs in source countries is not only anti-humanist; recent events have made clear that it is also reckless in the extreme. Art – the tangible history of humankind – is at risk. No nation’s artistic heritage should be held in a single place. Yet international museums are being told not to collect or preserve at a time when art itself is most vulnerable.