Is a Museum Just a Trophy Case? (Update)

The world’s great museums are full of art and artifacts that were plundered during an era when plunder was the norm. Now there’s a push to return these works to their rightful owners. Sounds simple, right? It's not. (Part 2 of an updated series originally published in 2023.)

SOURCES: •

Matthew Bogdanos • , assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit.

Nicholas Cullinan • , director of the British Museum.

Victor Ehikhamenor • , Nigerian writer and artist.

David Frum • , staff writer at The Atlantic. Dan Hicks • , professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford and curator of world archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Bénédicte Savoy • , professor of art history at the Technical University in Berlin.

RESOURCES: •

• " These Looted Treasures Are Home. What Now? • ," by Alex Marshall (New York Times, • 2025).

• " France's Long-Awaited Restitution Policy Is Finally Here • ," by Vincent Noce ( The Art Newspaper, • 2023).

Africa’s Struggle for Its Art: History of a Postcolonial Defeat, • by Bénédicte Savoy (2022).

• " Who Benefits When Western Museums Return Looted Art? • " by David Frum ( The Atlantic, • 2022).

• " Museums in England and Wales to Gain Powers to Dispose of Objects on Moral Grounds • ," by Dalya Alberge ( The Guardian, • 2022).

The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution • , by Dan Hicks (2020).

• " The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethics • ," by Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr (2018).

EXTRAS: •

• " Can a Museum Be the Conscience of a Nation? • ," by Freakonomics Radio • (2025).

• " The Hidden Side of the Art Market • ," by Freakonomics Radio • (2021).

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