Lost and gained values
Wars are conducted not only with the help of weapons. Decades, and sometimes the centers of the country are museum battles, fighting for books, statues, paintings and archaeological artifacts. Today we will tell about these quiet interstate wars for lost treasures, relics and cultural values.
Library Shneherson
In which country is: Russia
Who claims: USA
12,000 Hebrew Books and 50,000 Rare Documents, including 381 Manuscripts from the collection of the rebetes of Itzhaka Shneherson, became an apple of discord between Russia and the USA. Judicial battles have been underway for 30 years: the return of the library requires the heir to the guy – his son-in-law and hacides from the religious movement "Khabad Lubavich", whose office is located in New York. The organization has repeatedly applied to the courts of the USSR, Russia and the United States, calling to return the heritage of his teacher, but our country will give up the collection refuses, considering it with its national heritage.
Schneerson’s library was formed by Hasidami since the XVIII century in the village of Lubavichi (Smolensk region). For the sake of salvation of the collection during the First World War, the rebba transported a book to Moscow, something had time to take away into emigration, but most of the library in 1918 was nationalized by the Soviet authorities. Currently, the Schneerson collection is stored in the Russian State Library, Russian Military Archive and in the Jewish Museum. The battle for the Hasidov library is still at the highest level. In 2010, two opposite decisions were made: the US court ordered Russia to transfer all the books and manuscripts of Schneerson to the owners and put the penalty for each day of delay: $ 50,000. The Russian court in response obliged the organization Khabad Lubavich to return the part of the collection, which is stored in the Congress library, and set a similar penalty: $ 50,000 per day no return. Because of these litas, the cultural exchange of US and Russia museums actually ceased.
Fano athlete
In which country is: USA
Who claims: Italy
Italy Several Tens of years is fighting for the return of many works of antiquity, which were taken out of the ocean illegally and dated American museums. The main battle comes for the Bronze Statue of the "Athlete of Fano" work of the court artist Alexander Macedonian Lisippa, which is located in the Ghetty Museum in the US. This masterpiece of ancient Greek art accidentally hooked from the seabed Italian fishermen in 1964 off the coast of Pesaro and Urbino Provinces, but later the statue suddenly appeared in the United States, and in 1977 he fell into the collection of the Museum of Ghetty. The disputes of Italy and the United States on the fate of Atleta are conducted since the 1980s, the courts were awarded the victory by one, then the other side, but ultimately the American museum managed to leave the exhibit at home, proving that he was acquired legally.
Italy is trying to influence the United States with subtle hints: it returns to other countries borrowed artifacts. So, in 2007, Pakistan was transferred to 96 archaeological values from the collections of Italian museums – the total value of these antiquities is estimated at $ 100 million. However, for the sake of justice, we note that the United States has already returned Italy: in particular, the Museum of Ghetty handed the invalid antique exhibit – the statue of Aphrodite, dated by the V century BC. NS.
Bust Nefertiti
In which country is: Germany
Who claims: Egypt
Judging by news reports, it is Egypt that the champion in returning lost treasures. In recent years, many states returned the country of Pharaohs abducted archaeological values. However, the main relic – Bust Nefertiti – has been in Germany for a hundred years. This work of ancient Egyptian art was found during the excavations on the site of the ancient city of Achetaton in 1912. Archaeological works conducted and financed the German Eastern Society, so the find in 1913 moved to Germany and soon settled in the Berlin Museum. Today, Bust Nefertiti officially belongs to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and exhibited in the new Museum of Berlin. Egypt demands to return the artifact since 1924, insisting on the fact that it was taken illegally.
Collection of ancient marble
In which country is: United Kingdom
Who claims: Greece
Greece does not lose hope to defend the Great Britain, Elgin’s marble – a collection of ancient masterpieces from the Athenian Acropolis, which is kept in the British Museum. This collection was exported by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, Count Elgin, at the beginning of the XIX century, when Greece was under Turkish dominion. Having received the permission from the Turk to take some wreckage of stones with inscriptions and figures from the acropolis, he broke out the barbaric and took out 12 figures from the Parfenon frontons, 15 stone rectangular plates, 56 plates of Frieze in England. In addition, the Count borrowed one of the famous Charyatid of Erehechtione.
The dispute between the two states due to the stolen cultural values continues since Greece returned independence: it requires a recognition of an illegitimate decision of the Turkish authorities about their export. Recently, the intention to assist the return of Marbles Elgin announced the wife of the actor George Clooney, British lawyer Amal Alamuddine. She managed to prepare a 150-page report on how to return the antique heritage to his homeland, however, the Minister of Culture of Greece Nikos Hidakis publicly refused the courts and stated that the decision of this question lies exclusively "in the diplomatic and political plane".
Eberswald treasure
In which country is: Russia
Who claims: Germany
Germany and Russia are disputes due to the legendary Eberswald treasure – a rich collection of prehistoric gold products weighing more than 2.5 kg, which was found during construction work in Germany in 1913. In total, 81 subject: Bowls, bars, gold chains and other decorations made in the X-IX centuries. NS. After the war, the treasure, like many other values, was transported as a trophy in the USSR, long dust in the museum foundations and only in 2013 appeared in the Hermitage in the framework of the Bronze Age exhibition. Angela Merkel, who personally visited the opening, said: "We believe that these exhibits should return to Germany and be returned to owners or their heirs". However, according to the Russian law "On Cultural Values", "All displaced cultural facilities exported to the USSR in pursuance of his right to compensatory restitution and in the territory of the Russian Federation belong to the Russian Federation and are federal property". If you return this treasure, you have to give much more.
