Across the world, museums are widely seen as places of education. They are the perfect place for a school trip, to learn about national and international history, or even just to go to on a rainy day to see some dinosaur skeletons and to have some cake in the café.
...many museums are also places testament to the bloody history of European empires...
Despite this stalwart reputation as educational, in reality many museums are also places testament to the bloody history of European empires and to the propensity of those empires to steal and loot precious artefacts and treasures from the countries that they colonised.
This question over whether museums are places of education or of theft goes straight to the heart of one of our greatest cultural and historical debates and forces many countries – Britain included – to look at their not-so-civil history of empire and looting. This is seen through the British Museum's vast collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts. This collection originally began after the British defeated the French in the Battle of the Nile in 1798, and in the wake of their victory, took many of the French scientific expedition's historical finds as their own, including the Rosetta Stone, which is displayed in the British Museum.
The British Museum also has in its possession a great many Indian artefacts which are also highly controversial. The Amravati Marbles, which were removed from the Amaravati Stupa by Sir Walter Elliot and moved to Madras in 1840 were deposited in the British Museum in 1880 and have remained there ever since. These two examples of artefacts with questionable histories regarding Britain's imperial legacy are not the only ones – the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry in Britain has reignited the Greek leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis's calls for the Parthenon Marbles (also known as the Elgin marbles after the Earl who acquired them) to be returned to Greece.
...these artefacts are not merely for show or to impress tourists – ironically, they offer an education in imperial theft.
These artefacts are all part of the debates over whether Britain should return these artefacts to their country of origin. Although the British Museum has defended its controversial past with the claim that they have played, and continue to play, a vital role in the preservation, showcasing and educating of others about these artefacts, these artefacts are not merely for show or to impress tourists – ironically, they offer an education in imperial theft.