Should cultural treasures be returned to their country of origin?

[dimpy.handa]

It may have been true that countries such as Greece were not capable of looking after their heritage in the past, but that has now changed. A state-of-the-art museum has now been completed in Athens to house the surviving marbles, while pollution control measures have reduced sulphur-dioxide levels in the city to a fifth of their previous levels. At the same time the curatorship of institutions such as the British Museum is being called into question, as it becomes apparent that controversial cleaning and restoration practices may have harmed the sculptures they claim to protect.

 

[dimpy.handa]

A tremendous effort made in this regard was of Mr. Vijay Mallya.

The 'mysterious buyer' of the legendary sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London in September last year was liquor baron Vijay Mallya .Mallya said he bought the majestic sword at an auction from the descendants of Major General Baird, who was presented with it through the then army commander Lt General Harris more than 200 years ago.

The timing of Mallya's disclosure six months after he bought it -- coming as it does a few days before the elections in Karnataka ,has not gone unnoticed.

 

[swatiraohnlu]

UNESCO has put forward numerous recommendations and Conventions. The most important are the 1954, 1970 and 1995 Conventions, 1954 Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Convention), 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (The Paris Convention) , 1995 Unidroit Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects (The Unidroit Convention).