 Stealing History: a portable display.
It has long been recognized by those fighting the illicit trade in antiquities that
public education is key. Indeed, one of the aims of the IARC is to raise public awareness
of the scale and consequences of looting.
This point was emphasized by Manus Brinkman, Secretary General of ICOM (the
International Council of Museums) in his keynote speech to the Museums Association
Conference 1998. Commenting that he did not know of many educational programmes in
schools, or museums that deal with illicit antiquities issues,
he said it would be helpful if UK museums ran such communication initiatives.
Museums in badly looted countries are increasingly doing just that. There are examples
of imaginative educational campaigns explaining the damage caused by archaeological
destruction — and the value of archaeology — in countries like Mali, Peru,
Jordan, Italy, Mexico. But there has been very little equivalent coverage in market
countries.
To try and redress this balance, the IARC, with the help of the A.G. Leventis
Foundation has produced a portable display, called Stealing History. It is
available on loan, free of charge to museums, libraries and suitable institutions in the
United Kingdom.
Under the headings ‘Illicit Antiquities’, ‘Why Archaeology?’,
‘Why Loot?’, and ‘The Way Forward’ the exhibit explains the basic
issues: why the general public should be concerned about archaeological looting, the
benefits of archaeology as opposed to looting, and possible ways forward. The display also
highlights famous case studies from around the world, including the Salisbury Hoard and
the Icklingham Bronzes, the palace of Sennacherib, the Weary Herakles, Sipán, the
Kanakariá mosaic, Cambodia, Mali and Kabul Museum.
First posted March 2000; Page
design updated September 2006 |
