User:Alexhayes/monobook.js and Looted art: Difference between pages

Latest revision as of 09:42, 8 June 2007

Revision as of 18:20, 9 June 2007

Line 1:

{{Merge|looting|date=June 2007}}

// [[User:Lupin/popups.js]]

[[Image:Sack of jerusalem.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The sack of Jerusalem, from the inside wall of the [[Arch of Titus]], Rome]]

'''Looted art''' is a term used most commonly to refer to artwork [[Nazi plunder|looted]] by the [[Nazis]] during World War II<ref>Chamberlin, E. R. Loot!: The Heritage of Plunder. New York: Facts on File, 1983</ref><ref>De Jaeger, Charles. The Linz File: Hitler's Plunder of Europe's Art. Exeter, England: Webb & Bower, 1981</ref><ref>Feliciano, Hector. The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. New York: BasicBooks, 1997</ref> in Europe, however the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] does not reduce the concept of Looted art to the Nazis alone: {{cquote|"The plunder and looting of art and other treasures was not limited to the Third Reich. ... The Soviet<ref name=akinsha>Akinsha, Konstantin, et al. Beautiful Loot: The Soviet Plunder of Europe's Art Treasures. New York: Random House, 1995</ref> and American<ref name=alford>Alford, Kenneth D. The Spoils of World War II: The American Military's Role in the Stealing of Europe's Treasures. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1994</ref> armies also participated, the former more thoroughly and systematically, the latter at the level of individuals stealing for personal gain."<ref name=ushmm>United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Looted Art. http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/index.php?content=looted_art</ref>}} The [[Herald Times]] even claims: "[[Napoleon]] was a model for Hitler in terms of art looting." <ref>Herald Times "Napoleon was a model for Hitler in terms of art looting." Herald Times. April 29, 2007, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com</ref>

[[Plunder]], [[booty]], [[appropriation]] and [[spoliation]] are other terms that have been used since several hundred years<ref name=lieber>Francis Lieber, LL.D. Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field. Originally Issued as General Orders No. 100, Adjutant General's Office, 1863, Washington 1898: [[Government Printing Office]]. Available: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lieber.htm</ref> to describe the process of looting. Many references still associate the term looted art with the World War II area, recent legal frameworks and treaties use the term spoliation in connection with the "large number of cultural objects and works of art looted by the Nazis and others during the Second World War and the Holocaust Era from 1933-1945". <ref>Cultural Property Advice . United Kingdom. Looted art 1933-45. Available: http://www.culturalpropertyadvice.gov.uk/public_collections/looted_art</ref>

importScript('User:Lupin/popups.js');

==History==

Art [[looting]] has a long history, the winning party of armed conflicts often plundering the loser, and in the absence of social order, the local population often joining in. The contents of nearly all the tombs of the [[Pharoah]]s were already completely looted by [[grave robber]]s before the invasion of Egypt by [[Alexander the Great]] in 332BCE. There have been a total of seven [[Sack of Rome|Sackings of Rome]]. Other famous examples include the sack of [[Constantinople]] by the [[Fourth Crusade]], the [[Battle of Baghdad (1258)|Sack of Baghdad in 1258]], [[Hernán Cortés]] and the looting of the [[Aztec]] gold. In only some of these was the removal of artworks for their own sake (rather than the value of their materials for example) a primary motivation. But Napoleon's conquests in Europe were followed by a systematic attempt, later more tentatively echoed by Hitler, to take the finest works of art of conquered nations back to the [[Louvre]] in Paris for a grand central Museum of all Europe. Napoleon boasted: {{cquote|"We will now have all that is beautiful in Italy except for a few objects in Turin and Naples".<ref name=time>Masterpieces of the Louvre. Time Magazine. June 30, 1958, Available: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,891933-1,00.html</ref>}} Many works were returned after his fall, but many others were not, and remain in France. Many works confiscated from religious institutions under the French occupation now form the backbone of national museums: "Napoleon's art-loot depots became the foundation of [[Accademia|Venice's Accademia]], Milan's [[Pinacoteca di Brera|Brera galleries]]. His brother [[Napoleon III of France|Louis]] founded [[Rijksmuseum Amsterdam|Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum]]; brother [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]] started [[Museo del Prado|Madrid's Prado]]" (for the Spanish royal collection).<ref name=time/>

Since the rise of an [[Illicit antiquities|art market]] for monumental sculpture, abandoned monuments all over the world have been at risk, notably in [[Iran]], the old territories of [[Mesoamerican culture]] and Cambodia.<ref>Mydans, Seth. Raiders of Lost Art Loot Temples in Cambodia. New York Times, April 1, 1999,Section A, Page 4, Column 3, 1152 words</ref>

importScript('User:AzaToth/twinkle.js');

==Archaeological removals==

It can also refer to [[antiquities]] formerly removed from countries by outsiders, such as some of the contents of Egyptian tombs which were transported to museums in Europe.<ref name="pyramid">{{cite news

|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061024-hawass.html

|publisher=National Geographic News

|title=Egypt's Antiquities Chief Combines Passion, Clout to Protect Artifacts

|date=October 24, 2006

}}</ref> Other examples include the obelisks of Pharaoh [[Amenhotep II]], in the (Oriental Museum, [[University of Durham]], United Kingdom), Pharaoh [[Ptolemy IX]], ([[Philae Obelisk]], in Wimborne, Dorset, United Kingdom)

Recent controversies include the [[Elgin Marbles]], presently in the collection of the [[British Museum]] and the claim by [[Greece]] that they should be returned.<ref name="elgin">{{cite news

|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/parthenon/article/0,,632019,00.html

|publisher=The Guardian UK

|title=Elgin Marbles 'should be shared' with Greece

|date= January 13, 2002

}}</ref>

==Looting in the British empire==

The transformation of theft and plunder as an incentive for troops to institutionalized, indiscriminate looting following military conflict can be observed in the wake of British conquest in Asia, Africa and India. The looting of artifacts for "both personal and institutional reasons" became "increasingly important in the process of ‘othering’ Oriental and African societies and was exemplified in the professionalism of exploration and the growth of ethnographic departments in museums, the new ‘temples of Empire’." Although looting became morally questionable, especially after the "burning, looting and removal of non-combatants to [[concentration camps]]", it became a vital instrument for the projection of power and the British imperial desire to gather and provide information about the "exotic" cultures and primitive tribes.<ref>Michael Carrington. Officers Gentlemen and Thieves: The Looting of Monasteries during the 1903/4. [[Francis Younghusband|Younghusband Mission]] to Tibet, [[Modern Asian Studies]] 37, 1 (2003), pp 81-109, Available: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=139485</ref>

==Looting in the United States==

After the looting of Europe by Napoleon others copied the institutionalized model of systematic plunder and looting. During the [[American Civil War]] legal frameworks and guidelines emerged that justified and legalized the plunder and looting of opposing parties and nations. [[Henry Wager Halleck]], a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer argued: "No belligerent would be justifiable in destroying temples, tombs, statutes [sic], paintings, or other works of art (except so far as their destruction may be the accidental or necessary result of military operations.) But, may he not seize and appropriate to his own use such works of genius and taste as belong to the hostile state, and are of a moveable character?".<ref>Halleck. International law, or, Rules regulating the intercourse of states in peace and war. Ch. XIX, Sections 10–11. (1861)</ref>

In July 1862, [[Francis Lieber]], a professor at [[Columbia College]], who had worked with Halleck on guidelines for guerrilla warfare, was asked by Halleck, now [[General-in-Chief]] of [[Union Army|armies of the Union]], to develop a code of conduct for the armed forces. The code of conduct, published as General Orders No. 100 on April 24, 1863, became later known as the [[Lieber Code]]<ref name=lieber/> and specifically authorized the Armies of the United States to plunder and loot the enemy - a mindset that Hitlers armies copied one century later. The Lieber Code said in Article 36: "If such works of art, libraries, collections, or instruments belonging to a hostile nation or government, can be removed without injury, the ruler of the conquering state or nation may order them to be seized and removed for the benefit of the said nation. The ultimate ownership is to be settled by the ensuing treaty of peace."<ref>Hartigan, Richard Shelly, ed. Lieber’s Code and the Law of War. Chicago: Precedent, 1983.</ref><ref>Friedman, Leon. The Law of War: A Documentary History. New York: Random House, 1972.</ref> Russian and American forces relied on similar frameworks when they plundered Germany after the defeat of the [[Nazis]].<ref name=ushmm/>

The Lieber Code further defined the conditions of looting and the relationship between private plunder and booty and institutionalized looting "All captures and booty belong, according to the modern law of war, primarily to the government of the captor." (Article 45), "Neither officers nor soldiers are allowed to make use of their position or power in the hostile country for private gain, not even for commercial transactions otherwise legitimate." (Article 46) and "... [I]f large sums are found upon the persons of prisoners, or in their possession, they shall be taken from them, and the surplus, after providing for their own support, appropriated for the use of the army, under the direction of the commander, unless otherwise ordered by the government." (Article 72)<ref name=lieber/>

==Looting during World War II==

{{main|Nazi plunder}}

[[Image:28-1237a.gif|right|200px|thumb|General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], Supreme Allied Commander, accompanied by General [[Omar N. Bradley]], and Lieutenant General [[George S. Patton]], Jr., inspects art treasures hidden in a salt mine in Germany.]]

[[Art dealer]]s, [[art gallery|galleries]] and [[museum]]s world-wide have been compelled to research their collection's [[provenance]] in order to investigate claims that some of the work was acquired after it had been stolen from its original owners.<ref name="looting">{{cite news

|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,447136,00.html

|publisher=Spiegel Online International

|title=Jewish Heirs Want Their Art Back

|date=November 8, 2006

}}</ref> Already in 1985, years before American museums recognized the issue and before the International conference on Nazi-looted assets of Holocaust victims, European countries released inventory lists of works of art, coins and medals "that were confiscated from Jews by the Nazis during World War II, and announced the details of a process for returning the works to their owners and rightful heirs."<ref>Douglas C McGill. Austria Sets Up System to Yield Nazi-Held Art. [[New York Times]]. December 3, 1985</ref> In 1998 an [[Austria]]n advisory panel has recommended the return of 6,292 [[objets d'art]] to their legal owners (most of whom are [[Jew]]s), under the terms of a [[1998]] restitution law.<ref name="austria">{{cite news

|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-17085369.html

|publisher=The Jerusalem Post

|title=Austria prepares restitution of Nazi art loot

|date=September 9, 1998

}}</ref>

Pieces of art looted by the Nazis can still be found in Russian/Soviet<ref>Honan, William H. Soviets Reported to Hide Looted Art. New York Times. March 30, 1991, Section 1, Page 9, Column 4, 887 words</ref> and American institutions: the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] revealed a list of 393 paintings that have gaps in their provenance during the Nazi Era, the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] has posted a listing of more than 500 works "for which links in the chain of ownership for the years 1933-1945 are still unclear or not yet fully determined.", the [[San Diego Museum of Art]]<ref>San Diego Museum of Art. http://www.sdmart.org/provenance/Index.html</ref> and the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]<ref>Los Angeles County Museum of Art

http://www.lacma.org/art/ProvIntro.aspx</ref> provide lists on the internet to determine if art items within their collection were stolen by the Nazis.

[[Stuart Eizenstat]], the undersecretary of state and head of the U.S. delegation sponsoring the [[1998]] International conference on Nazi-looted assets of Holocaust victims in Washington conference stated that "From now on, ... the sale, purchase, exchange and display of art from this period will be addressed with greater sensitivity and a higher international standard of responsibility." <ref name=cnn>CNN. Guidelines set for returning Nazi-looted art. Conference calls for 'just and fair solution'. CNN. December 3, 1998, Available: http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/03/holocaust.conference/</ref>

After the conference [[Association of Art Museum Directors]] developed guidelines which require museums to review the the provenance or history of their collections, focusing especially on art looted by the Nazis.<ref name=cnn>CNN. Manhattan museum plans to issue Holocaust looted-art study. March 2, 2000, Available: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/03/02/holocaust.art.reut/</ref> The [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington identified more than 400 European paintings with gaps in their provenance during the World War II era.<ref name=cnn/> One particular piece of art, "Still Life with Fruit and Game" by the 16th century Flemish painter [[Frans Synders]], was sold by [[Karl Haberstock]], whom the [[World Jewish Congress]] describes as "one of the most notorious nazi art dealers."<ref name=cnn/> In 2000 the New York City's Museum of Modern Art still told congress that "[they] are not aware of a single Nazi-tainted work of art in our collection, of the more than 100,000 [they] hold".<ref name=cnn/>

== Looting of Germany ==

[[Image:Priam's treasure.JPG|right|200px|thumb|[[Priam's Treasure]] (the treasure of [[Troy]]), a [[Germans|German]] collection discovered by [[Heinrich Schliemann]], looted by the [[Russians]] after World War II, currently hidden in the [[Pushkin Museum]] in [[Russia]].]]

Even German artworks and cultural treasures supposedly secured against bombing in safe places were looted after World War II, Germany lost about 200.000 works of art, 3 kilometers of archival material and 3 million books.<ref>Leistra, Josefine. New York Conference Spoils of War. Trans-Art International. 1995</ref>. The German state (Land) of [[Saxony-Anhalt]] alone maintains a list entitled "Beutekunst" (Looted Art) of more than 1000 missing paintings and books believed confiscated by the US or the Soviet Union.<ref>Verbrannt, verschollen - für immer verloren? Verluste deutscher Museen und Bibliotheken infolge des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Available: http://www.beutekunst.de/</ref>

The systematic pillaging and looting of Germany by the Allies, including the objects stolen from the previous Jewish owners, is still causing disputes and conflicts between Germany, Russia and the United States, as many of the objects have never been returned. The Soviet plunder of Europe's art treasures<ref name=akinsha/> constituted institutionalized revenge while the American military's role in the stealing of Europe's treasures<ref name=alford/> mostly involved individuals looting for personal gain.<ref name=ushmm/>

At the 1998 conference Eizenstat was "impressed ... almost overwhelmed", when Russia promised "to identify and return art that was looted by the Nazis and then plundered by Stalin's troops as 'reparations' for Germany's wartime assault."<ref name=cnn/> Russia failed to keep the promise, many historical artifacts and art pieces, including [[Priam's Treasure]], still remain in Russia.

==Looting in Mesoamerica==

The same effects can be observed in other periods and locations. Roger Atwood writes in "Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World": "Mayan stonework became one of those things that good art museums in America just had to have, and looters in the jungles of southern Mexico and Guatemala worked overtime to meet the demand."<ref>Atwood, Roger. Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World. St. Martin's Press. November 18, 2004</ref><ref>Colin Woodard. Destructive Looting Threatens Archaeological Work at Maya Sites. [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]. October 20, 2000.</ref>

<ref>Jeremy McDermott. Looting a lost civilization. Maya scholars in race with thieves. [[San Francisco Chronicle]]. June 7, 2001, Available: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/07/MN221710.DTL&type=science

</ref>

<ref>Princine Lewis. Archaeologists partnership with Maya villagers pays off in looters� conviction. [[Vanderbilt Register]]. June 23, 2004, Available: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=12691</ref>

Looting in Mesoamerica has a long tradition and history, many graves are looted before the archaeologists could reach them, the artifacts are then sold to wealthy collectors in the United States, Japan or Europe. [[Guillermo Cock]], a Lima-based archaeologist says about a recent find of Dozens of exquisitely preserved Inca mummies on the outskirts of Peru's capital city [[Lima]]: "The true problem is the looters," he said. "If we leave the cemetery it is going to be destroyed in a few weeks."<ref>John Roach. Dozens of Inca Mummies Discovered Buried in Peru. [[National Geographic]] News, March 11, 2004, Available: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0311_040311_incamummies.html</ref>

==Looting of Cypriot Orthodox Churches ==

Following the [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|invasion of Cyprus]] in 1974 by [[Turkey]], and the occupation of the northern part of the island churches belonging to the [[Cypriot Orthodox Church]] have been looted in what is described as ''"…one of the most systematic examples of the looting of art since World War II"''.<ref>{{cite news | first=Chris | last=Morris | coauthors= | title=Shame of Cyprus's looted churches | date=18 January, 2002 | publisher= | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1768274.stm | work =BBC | pages = | accessdate = 2007-01-29 | language = }}</ref> Several high profile cases have made headline news on the international scene. Most notable was the case of the Kanakaria mosaics, 6th century AD frescos that were removed from the original church, trafficked to the USA and offered for sale to a museum for the sum of US$20,000,000.<ref> {{cite journal|title=Litigators of the lost art - court orders return of Byzantine mosaics to their homeland|journal=Saturday Evening Post|date=Oct, 1989|first=Steve|last=Mannheimer|coauthors=|volume=|issue=|pages=|id= |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1189/is_n7_v261/ai_7980763|format=|accessdate=2007-01-29}}</ref> These were subsequently recovered by the Orthodox Church following a court case in Indianapolis.<ref> {{cite journal|title=Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyrprus v. Goldberg & Feldman Fine Arts, Inc. |journal=The American Journal of International Law|date=Jan 1992|first=Christiane |last=Bourloyannis|coauthors=Virginia Morris|volume=86|issue=1|pages=128-133|id= {{doi|10.2307/2203143}}|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300(199201)86%3A1%3C128%3AAGCOCV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O|format=|accessdate=2007-01-29}}</ref>

== Looting of Native American archaeological sites ==

Throughout the history of the United States Native American archaeological sites have been looted, destroying religious sites and relics that date back several hundred years. Many Indian burial sites and sacred grounds have been systematically plundered and destroyed until the 1957 dispute about the Gasquet-Orleans Road. The GO road in what is now the Six Rivers National Forest in the [[Siskiyou Mountains|Siskyou Mountain]] Range was the first logging project that raised public Indian opposition. After several legal disputes and lawsuits, including the 1978 [[Indian Religious Freedom Act]], the case was decided at the [[Supreme Court]].<ref>Indian Burial and Sacred Grounds Watch. List of News and Campaigns. Available: http://www.ibsgwatch.imagedjinn.com/</ref>

in 1990, the [[Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act]] (NAGPRA) became the primary federal legislation pertaining to graves and human remains in archaeological contexts. The act "establishes definitions of burial sites, cultural affiliation, cultural items, associated and unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, cultural patrimony, indian tribes, museums, Native Americans and Native Hawaiians, right of possession and tribal land."<ref>Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. [[National Park Service]]. U.S. Department of the Interior. Available: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/</ref>

In 2002 Federal grand jurors have accused two men, Steven Scott Tripp, 40, of Farmington, and William Thomas Cooksey, 53, of Union, of looting and violating the integrity of an American Indian burial site at southeast Missouri's [[Wappapello Lake]]. The looters "illegally excavated, removed, damaged and defaced archaeological resources, and that by doing so they caused at least $1,000 in damage. Gary Stilts, the Army Corps' operations manager there, estimated the damage to be about $14,000".<ref>News Tribune. Two accused of looting American Indian graves. [[News Tribune]]. Jefferson City. November 29, 2002, Available: http://www.newstribune.com/stories/112902/sta_1129020930.asp</ref> Stilts said about the looting: {{cquote|It's a sacred thing. None of us would want anyone digging in our ancestor's grave".}}

On [[December 5]], [[2005]] six Ohio residents, Daniel Fisher, 41, and Thomas J. Luecke, 40, of Cincinnati; Richard Kirk, 56, of Stout; Joseph M. Mercurio, 44, and Tanya C. Mercurio, 43, of Manchester; and David Whitling, 47, of Bellefontaine, entered federal ground to dig for artifacts, using "rakes and digging implements to disturb the surface of the ground, creating holes and displacing archaeological sediment in violation of the federal [[Archaeological Resources Protection Act]]". The looted site at [[Barren River Lake]] includes [[Early Woodlands]] ceramics dating back roughly to 1500 to 300 B.C. They looters were sentenced to probation by Judge Thomas B. Russell in federal court after pleading guilty.<ref>Neil Relyea. Ohio Residents Sentenced For Looting Native American Archaeological Site. [[ABC]]9. WCPO. April 4, 2007, Available: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=d135ae6f-11d1-45f7-adf8-5f81d48878d4</ref>

==Looting in Afghanistan==

Many art pieces and artifacts from Afghanistan were looted during several wars, scores of artworks were smuggled to Britain and sold to wealthy collectors. "There are also fears that the bulk of the collection once in [[Kabul Museum]], ... is now in smugglers' or collectors' hands. The most famous exhibits were the [[Bagram]] ivories, a series of exquisite Indian panels nearly 2,000 years old, excavated by French archaeologists in the Thirties."<ref>Jason Burke. Looted Afghan art smuggled to London. [[The Observer]]. March 11, 2001, Available: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,450009,00.html</ref>

==Looting in Iraq==

{{main|Archaeological looting in Iraq}}

[[Image:IraqNationalMuseum.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The [[National Museum of Iraq]] after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A hole caused by a shell can be seen in the wall above the tank. The museum was looted after the invasion and many [[antiquities]] were missing or destroyed.]]

More recently the term is used to describe the [[Archaeological looting in Iraq|looting in Iraq]] after the American-led invasion,<ref name=orourke>O'Rourke, Meghan. Raiders of the Lost Art. Why didn't we protect the National Museum and Library in Baghdad? Slate. April 17, 2003, http://www.slate.com/id/2081647/</ref> including but not limited to the [[National Museum of Iraq]].<ref name=simon>Simon Jenkins. In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals. British and American collusion in the pillaging of Iraq's heritage is a scandal that will outlive any passing conflict. [[The Guardian]]. June 8, 2007, Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2098272,00.html</ref> Following the looting, the British and American collusion<ref name=simon/> in the pillaging of Iraq's heritage, the mystery why the National Museum and Library in Baghdad were not protected<ref name=orourke/>, "American officials came under sharp criticism from archaeologists and others for not securing the museum, a vast storehouse of artifacts from some of civilization's first cities."<ref name=barry>Barry Meier and James Glanz. Looted treasure returning to Iraq national museum. [[The New York Times]]. July 26, 2006, Available: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/treasure.php</ref>

After the U.S. troops entered Baghdad on [[April 9]], [[2003]], at least 13,000 artifacts were stolen during the looting, including many moved from other sites into the National Museum for safekeeping. U.S. American troops and tanks were stationed in that area but without orders to stop the looting "watched for several days before moving against the thieves."<ref name=knickmeyer>Ellen Knickmeyer. Iraqi Museum Sealed Against Looters. Antiquities Chief Quits Post, Flees Country, Citing Lack of Safeguards for Historic Treasures. [[Washington Post]]. August 27, 2006, Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/26/AR2006082600810_pf.html</ref>

The Boston Globe writes: "Armies not of fighters but of looters, capitalizing on a security vacuum after war, have pillaged Babylon" and Donny George, the curator of Iraq's National Museum says about the art looting: {{cquote|"It's the crime of the century because it affects the heritage of all mankind." <ref name=thanassis>Thanassis Cambanis and Charles M. Sennott. Looters Pillage Babylon Leaving Iraqis, Archeologists Devastated. The Boston Globe Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. April 21, 2003</ref>}} According to museum officials the looters concentrated on the heart of the exhibition: "the [[Warka Vase]], a Sumerian alabaster piece more than 5,000 years old; a bronze Uruk statue from the [[Acadian]] period, also 5,000 years old, which weighs 660 pounds; and a headless Sumerian statue. The [[Harp of Ur]] was torn apart by looters who removed its gold inlay."<ref name=thanassis/> Among the stolen artifacts is the [[Basitke]] statue made out of bronze, a life-size statue of a young man, originally found in the village Basitke in the northern part of Iraq, an Acadian piece that goes back to 2300 B.C. and the stone statue of King Schalmanezer, from the eighth century B.C.<ref name=newsweek>Newsweek. The Last Word: Donny George. A Real-Life Treasure Hunt. [[Newsweek]] International. March 21, 2007, Available: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7169977/site/newsweek/</ref>The horror of art looting in general is made clear by Hashem Hama Abdoulah, director of the museum of antiquities in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdish-controlled zone of northern Iraq. {{cquote|"When your history is stolen from you, you lose your sense of that history. Not just the Iraqi people, but all of civilization that can trace its roots back to this area."<ref name=thanassis/>}}

Many other looted art objects end up in black markets with rich art collectors and art dealers, mostly the United States and Great Britain. One of the most valuable artifacts looted during the plunder of the National Museum of Iraq, a headless stone statue of the Sumerian king Entemena of Lagash, was recovered in the United States with the help of [[Hicham Aboutaam]], an art dealer in New York. While thousands of other, smaller pieces have remained in Iraq have been returned by other countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, the Entemena statue, "estimated to be 4,400 years old, is the first significant artifact returned from the United States and by far the most important piece found outside Iraq. American officials declined to discuss how they recovered the statue."<ref name=barry/>

The statue of the king, located in the center of the museum's second-floor Sumerian Hall, weighs hundreds of pounds, making it the heaviest piece stolen from the museum - the looters "probably rolled or slid it down marble stairs to remove it, smashing the steps and damaging other artifacts."<ref name=barry/>

Some of the artifacts have been recovered,<ref>National Public Radio. The Looting and Recovery of Iraqi Treasures. [[National Public Radio]]. May 25, 2005, Available: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4667811</ref> custom officials in the United States intercepted at least 1,000 pieces, but many are still advertised at eBay or are available through known collectors and black markets. "U.S. troops, journalists and contractors returning from Iraq are among those who have been caught with forbidden souvenirs".<ref>Betsy Pisik. Thousands of stolen Iraqi artifacts found. [[Washington Times]]. June 3, 2005, Available: http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20050603-121944-8610r.htm</ref>Despite public announcements and temporary efforts by the Iraqi and American administration the situation in Iraqi Museums and archaeological sites did not improve. [[Donny George]], the curator of Iraq's National Museum, the first person who raised his voice and alarmed the world about the looting in Iraq after the American invasion and publicly stated his opinion about the "ongoing failure of Iraqi leaders and the American military to protect the sites",<ref name=knickmeyer/> has left the country and resigned in August 2006. Before he left he closed and sealed the museum and plugged the doors with concrete.<ref name=knickmeyer/> In an article to [[Newsweek]] he even said that the stolen items should not be returned to Iraq under the given circumstances:"We believe this is not the right time now to have them back. Since we know all about them and are promised them back whenever we want them, it is better to keep them in these countries."<ref name=newsweek/>

The ''[[Washington Post]]'' cites another expert on Mesopotamian archeology at the Oriental Institute at the [[University of Chicago]], [[McGuire Gibson]], with the following words: "There was a lot of attention paid to the looting of the museum the very same days the war started. ... It hasn't stopped. There has been looting of sites on an industrial scale. Some of the greatest Sumerian sites have gone."<ref name=knickmeyer/>

==See also==

*[[Illicit antiquities]]

*[[Art theft]]

==References==

<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">

{{reflist}}

</div>

==Further reading==

* Akinsha, Konstantin, et al. Beautiful Loot: The Soviet Plunder of Europe's Art Treasures. New York: Random House, 1995

* Alford, Kenneth D. The Spoils of World War II: The American Military's Role in the Stealing of Europe's Treasures. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1994.

* Atwood, Roger. Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World. St. Martin's Press. November 18, 2004

* Chamberlin, E. R. Loot!: The Heritage of Plunder. New York: Facts on File, 1983.

* De Jaeger, Charles. The Linz File: Hitler's Plunder of Europe's Art. Exeter, England: Webb & Bower, 1981.

* Feliciano, Hector. The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. New York: BasicBooks, 1997.

* Milbry Polk (Author) and Angela M.H. Schuster. The Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad: The Lost Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia. Harry N. Abrams, May 1, 2005

==External links==

[[Category:Art history]]

[[Category:Art and cultural repatriation]]

[[Category:Museology]]

[[Category:Cultural heritage]]