The law on the restitution of 26 statues in Benin and of a saber in Senegal must be adopted definitively this Thursday. Senators, who are not hostile to justified restitution in the event of theft and looting, fear that this law will open the way for many others to each claim. In the joint committee, they saw two of their proposals rejected: that of replacing the term “restitution” by the more neutral one of “return” and that of establishing a “national think tank”.
Need to prioritize scientific criteria
In fact, the Senate regretted Wednesday restitutions of cultural property camouflaged in the form of “diplomatic gifts” and demanded from the executive a scientific program to evaluate the objects of French public collections which may or may not be returned. During a press conference, the president of the Culture committee, Laurent Lafon (centrist Union) expressed concern that “diplomatic issues take precedence over scientific issues”. The discreet sending in early November to Madagascar, in the form of a deposit, of a crown surmounting a canopy of Queen Ranavalona, kept at the Army Museum, was very badly received by the senators. The Senate fact-finding mission, which issued its report on returns on Wednesday, is particularly concerned that the practice of deposits, then validated by law, is increasing.
Condemnation of the “method”
Catherine Morin-Desailly (Les Centristes), president of this mission, criticized a questionable “method”: “We listen to the importance of diplomatic issues and we validate behind. The Ministry of Culture is under the regulated control of the diplomatic cell of the Elysee. If, at the discretion of the Head of State […] we take objects out of the collections as diplomatic gifts, where are we going? »She asked, quoted by AFP. “We are in favor of provenance research. It is a matter of establishing a transparent, scientific, democratic method that will shed light on politics, ”she added.
What’s in the report
The report makes fifteen proposals, including the association of scientists from requesting countries to the inventory of French public collections. It calls for human and financial resources for museums to launch a vast work on the search for provenance. He encourages them to “contextualize extra-Western collections by collaborating with the countries from which the works originate” and to keep a trace of the pieces returned, through copies and massive digitization. “As of January, we are working on tabling a text,” said Catherine Morin-Desailly. According to the report, since 2019, in addition to Benin, six countries – Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Chad, Mali, Madagascar – have submitted restitution requests.
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