Handel med stjålen kulturarv: UNESCO’s kulturkonventioner og Danmarks muligheder

Authors

  • Vinnie Nørskov

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3271

Keywords:

protection of cultural heritage, illegal trade, stolen cultural objects, legislation, international conventions, destruction of archaeological sites, museum acquisitions, auction houses, collectors

Abstract

During the Summer of 2006, the Danish press investigated the Danish auction houses and museums in order to test whether objects knowingly smuggled out of their countries of origin were bought and sold in Denmark. This has raised the question whether Danish legislation is adequate in relation to protecting the world’s cultural heritage, and led to the organisation of the public meeting in March 2007 to discuss the issue. The invited speakers touched on subjects that included the destruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage, the lack of legal tools for returning objects illegally exported from South America, experience with ratification of the international conventions in Norway and the Netherlands, and questions about the role of both the auction business and the museums in trading in stolen cultural property. As a very positive result of the meeting, the Danish Minister of Culture announced that Denmark will work on ratifying the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. 

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Conference reviews