The Pillage Cycle
Went to the Pergamon Museum yesterday and as I stood before the very impressive Ishtar Gate I couldn’t help but think to myself “If Iraq ever does emerge as a stable democracy whose government is a well-respected member of the community of nations, they’re probably going to want their awesome antiquities back.”
Later poking around elsewhere in the museum I found a sign that was sort of whining about how the Soviets stole a bunch of artifacts after WWII and then made a big show of returning them to the East German government in the early fifties but actually kept some stuff. Well, you can see why the Germans might not be thrilled with that outcome, but considering that they themselves carted all these artifacts off from foreign lands in the first place I’m not sure how much standing they really have to complain. Not that Germans were the only ones doing that (certainly some ill-gotten gains in Paris and London museums) but no honor among thieves, etc.
That said, the ups-and-downs of European conquest over the years have probably made museum-going an all-around better experience. Spain used to rule the Low Countries and parts of Italy so the big art museum in Madrid has paintings by Dutch and Italian masters along with the Spanish ones. That makes it a more interesting place than it otherwise would be, and Italy and it’s not like anyone stands around in the Rijksmuseum saying to themselves “I wish there were some more Dutch paintings here.” Similarly, had Jacques-Louis David not been hounded out of France by the Terror, The Death of Marat wouldn’t be in Brussels where it came as a much more unexpected surprise than it would have been in a French museum.
50 Responses to “The Pillage Cycle”
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September 27th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
No one in the Middle East even bothered with the people who created the Ishtar Gate, until the West began digging up the ancient cities and deciphering their languages. If it weren’t for Western curiosity and yes, acquisitiveness, those civilizations would have remained buried. From the Islamic point of view they were all barbarous.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
The book you should read and then blog about is:
James Cuno’s Who Owns Antiquity?
Cuno is director of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a controversialist.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
…think to myself “If Iraq ever does emerge as a stable democracy whose government is a well-respected member of the community of nations, they’re probably going to want their awesome antiquities back.”
Right, before getting their stuff back they must meet your sensible conditions. Otherwise – loot away! Surely civilized people like us have the god-given right to loot un-stable democracies and not-so-well-respected members of the community of nations.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
The art looted from Iraq is in private hands. Hopefully the SOBs are responsible enough to keep their booty in environmentally controlled vaults.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Re: From the Islamic point of view they were all barbarous.
Not necessarily. The Muslim Iranians have always given a lot of respect to their ancient Persian heritage- the Persian language, Persian and Syriac literature, Persian empire and Persian monuments- even though they weren’t Muslims. Same goes for the Muslims of Malaysia and Indonesia.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
While I agree that nations should generally get their antiquities back, I also wonder how far we can extend certain logics. After all, should the Iranians be able to sue Mongolia for cultural destruction because of Genghis Khan’s invasion in 1218? Could the Italians sue all of the rest of Europe for the return of all Roman ruins?
September 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
MY,
Your point is totally valid, but the Ishtar Gate you saw was not really the actual Ishtar Gate. It’s a recreation using a few artifacts in the construction.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Matt’s hypothetical condition was for asking for their stuff back. I suspect the government of Iraq has other things that are higher on their ‘to do’ list. Although the Taliban weren’t exactly great appreciators of prior culture’s art.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Steven, I think you have to go through some real mental gymnastics to go from “return the antiquities and cultural artifacts stolen from us” to “you have to give us back the land we once stole from your ancestors so we can have our ruins back”.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Of course, once you start returning antiquities, the question arises of _whom_ you return them to. If the British Royal Family decided to return the Kohinoor Diamond to its rightful owners, it’s unclear who that would be. Currently the governments of India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan (as well as, perhaps, private parties like the Jaganath Temple in Orissa) all have claims on the stone.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
America is no saint in this either. I remember in 2007 going to the Oriental Museum at UChicago and they had an ongoing legal dispute about antiques from Iran.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Matt’s hypothetical condition was for asking for their stuff back. I suspect the government of Iraq has other things that are higher on their ‘to do’ list.
What the hell does it even mean?
You think the government of Iraq (or any other country) wouldn’t have what – 10 minutes of time? typewriter? post-stamp? – to ask for their stuff back without being “a stable democracy whose government is a well-respected member of the community of nations”? Is that it?
September 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Frankly I don’t understand all this talk of “conquest”, “looting”, and “thievery”.
The Ottoman Empire wasn’t conquered by Germany, Koldewey didn’t carted the gate off in the dead of the night, the Ottoman Empire wasn’t some primitive push-over tribe dominated by European powers.
The possession of the Ischtar Gate was part of a contract between Germany and the Ottoman Empire that exchanged the services and expertise of the German scientists for a minority of the found artifacts.
The data was shared, most of the artifacts stayed in the Ottoman Empire, the Ischtar Gate was released by the Ottoman authorities.
September 27th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Re Bottomfish at 1: “From the Islamic point of view they were all barbarous.”
————
Really?
Then why was so much of our heritage from Western civilization — the Greek and Roman classics — preserved and passed to us by the Islamic world?
See, e.g, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Platonic_Scholarship
September 27th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
As the saying goes about the British Museum;
“All the treasures of the world are there… and the rest of the world is none too pleased.”
September 27th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Is there an Iraqi Melina Mercouri to lead the cause?
September 27th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Ironic.
UNESCO
Final Report on Damage Assessment in Babylon
“5. Post-2003 Damage
The use of Babylon as a military base was a grave encroachment on this internationally known archeological site. During their presence in Babylon, the MNF-I and contractors employed by them, mainly KBR, directly caused major damage to the city by digging, cutting, scraping, and leveling. Key structures that were damaged include the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way.”
September 27th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
“It used to be called plundering. But today things have become more humane. In spite of that, I intend to plunder, and to do it thoroughly.” –Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Heh.
September 27th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Just to defend the honor of my country(Spain), we didn’t loot Italy or Holland like germans did in Irak or british in Greece. We ruled those countries back in the day and our kings happened to buy some of his paintings to italian and dutch masters (directly or indirectly).
Back then it was the same thing than buying a Pollock for your local museum nowadays.
Germans and british were colonial rulers and looted those countries(directly or corrupting the weak local powers).
We probably did the same thing in America and we may have some pre-colombus art in our archeological museums that we shouldn’t, but the comparations of that to the fact that we have dutch and italians masters in Prado Museum it’s not correct.
September 27th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
“…certainly some ill-gotten gains in Paris and London museums”
Understatement of the week. The British Museum and the Louvre are the greatest homages to pillaging on Earth, period.
September 27th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Art museums are more interesting when they have foreign works in them. I can’t imagine the Prado would be the draw it is if it were only Spanish masters inside.
That being said, exhibits on loan are probably a better solution than the perpetuation of past imperial pillages.
September 27th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Matt asserts: “considering that they themselves carted all these artifacts off from foreign lands”
Yeah, when the Kaiser’s army conquered the Ottoman Empire in 189? … When was that exactly, Matt?
September 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
The Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum is a reconstruction, using some original and some new material. Generally, you can tell the original tiles because they’re in much worse shape. I’ve learned you have to really get into the habit of asking docents and curators “How much of this is original?” For instance, you can go to the Ford Museum in Michigan and they’ll let you “sit in the seat Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up”…except that the seats in that bus aren’t the originals, so, not really.
September 27th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Just to set the record straight. David wasn’t hounded out of France by the Terror — he himself was, as a member of the Committee for Public Safety, a notable “Terror”-ist. Hence his memorializing the death of his friend Marat. He was imprisoned after Thermidor but released during the Consulat and regained his stature as a leading painter under Napoleon for whom he painted several works that became iconic parts of Napoleonic propaganda. He went into self-exile to Brussels after the Restoration.
September 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
oops — that should read “released during the Directoire”
September 27th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Germany is home to large numbers of Native American artifacts as well. The vast majority are not even displayed or even categorized at top museums.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
You should read Loot, a well-written book addressing this topic.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
@14. The Taliban says Hi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamyan
September 27th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Does anyone think the Ishtar Gate would be standing if the Euros hadn’t stolen it? The flipside to the cultural pillaging is that the value of the pieces is appreciated by the pillagers but not the people who actually live there so it’s best for all concerned that they were taken.
And frankly since it’s easier for me to go see them if they’re in Europe I am quite happy to NEVER give those things back.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Re Marc at 29:
Bottomfish at 1 did not say “From the Taliban extremist viewpoint” — he said “From the Islamic viewpoint”
It would be as if I were to suggest that the treachery of the Neocons — who for the sake of Israel helped lie us into an unnecessary war that cost 4500 American lives — was characteristic of all Jews.
Which I would not do — it is prejudice to suggest that the crimes of a few are characteristic of their ethnic or religious groups as a whole.
It would be like suggesting that the amoral whoring of alcoholic George W Bush is characteristic of all Christians.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
A better, and more complex example, which is basically the original stufff and in the same museum complex, is the Pergamon Altar. I have no idea who you could “give it back” to.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I have to agree with the 2nd comment. Cuno’s “Who Owns Antiquity” is a very interesting an insightful look at the issues surrounding the nation-state and historical artifacts.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Then why was so much of our heritage from Western civilization — the Greek and Roman classics — preserved and passed to us by the Islamic world?
Because the people who were ignoring the ruins and artifacts all those centuries were not the scholars and learned rulers who studied ancient civilizations. They were the the peasants, nomads, bandits, grave robbers, and indifferent, corrupt ruling classes who saw them as, at best, curiosties, and at worst, potential sources of loot and and building stone.
The attitude of the population of Islamic countries towards the ruins of classic antiquity varied. Some respected them, some saw them as old pagan trash, some actually did considered the haunts of evil spirits.
The Ottoman Empire was far gone in internal rot and corruption by the time Europeans started nosing around the Middle-east. As I recall, the biggest problem the early generations of European antiquarians had was officials who wanted a piece of any swag that was dug up and locals who might murder the foreigners for their goods or for any treasure they might be suspected of carrying off. Later, as national movements rose in Ottoman territory, you get more of the legal and extra-legal looting that we associate with the Victorian Age.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
The use of Babylon as a military base was a grave encroachment on this internationally known archeological site. During their presence in Babylon, the MNF-I and contractors employed by them, mainly KBR, directly caused major damage to the city by digging, cutting, scraping, and leveling. Key structures that were damaged include the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way.”
You know, back when I was a kid, if we had a dog that pissed, on, shit on, and clawed everything around it the way KBR does, my Dad would have taken it out back and shot it.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
“Does anyone think the Ishtar Gate would be standing if the Euros hadn’t stolen it?”
I do. I’ve seen plenty of things still standing in Turkey. The things that aren’t standing were stolen by the Europeans. It’s really annoying when you go to a museum in Turkey and it’s mostly replicas. The real ones are in England. I think we should have a global “Steal from England” Day. For one day, everyone gets to steal what they want from England. Big Ben would look nice in Istanbul. Put it on that plot between Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Soullite –
Yes, I know. I was being somewhat facetious.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
36: well, london bridge is in arizona.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Re: the amoral whoring
You may mean ‘the immoral warring’. I’m not aware that Mr. George W. Bush was responsible for any sexual naughtiness, though he certainly did his share of evil in other regards.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
“I’m not aware that Mr. George W. Bush was responsible for any sexual naughtiness”
Too bad he wasn’t. Every president wants to fuck something. I’d rather have it be an intern than the rest of the world. Sadly, Americans disagree. They can handle killing a few hundred thousand people. But a blowjob is just too much. There is something wrong with us. Yet somehow, we’re the people who decide how the world works. Kafka couldn’t have written a stranger story than this. And Vonnegut couldn’t have written a funnier one. Strange days indeed.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
It is a pity that someone didn’t steal the Bamiyan Buddhas. There is a case to be made that items that have a political or religious significance in their places of orgin, are far safer in a place where they have only historical significance.
Then why was so much of our heritage from Western civilization — the Greek and Roman classics — preserved and passed to us by the Islamic world?
Some of it is was, but the greater part was preserved and passed by the Byzantine Empire.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:00 am
There’s a funny thing about preservation, you don’t always know what will happen. When Mehmet II conquered Constantinople, he ordered that Hagia Sophia be preserved, and it was. He also ordered that the paintings inside be plastered over because they were blasphemous. Oddly enough, that plaster is what preserved the paintings. Now the plaster is being removed, and we get to see beautiful 4th century paintings that have been preserved better than any of their day. Irony truly rules our world. And that’s a good thing.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:51 am
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September 28th, 2009 at 7:04 am
When I visited Berlin about ten years ago, I was struck by how much vitriol was still directed at Churchill for the fire-bombings.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:17 am
But due to the Coase theorem, we know a priori that there is a perfectly efficient distribution of masterworks in the world’s museums.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Re: When Mehmet II conquered Constantinople, he ordered that Hagia Sophia be preserved, and it was.
That’s nice. It would have been nicer if he had allowed the Greek Christians of Constantinople, who were the largest group there until the early 1920s, to attend services there. Of course most of the Greeks were forcibly expatriated in the ’20s, so it’s a moot point nowadays.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:43 am
When I visited Berlin about ten years ago, I was struck by how much vitriol was still directed at Churchill for the fire-bombings.
Well, if Atlanta can still be angry at Sherman . . .
September 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am
it’s not like anyone stands around in the Rijksmuseum saying to themselves “I wish there were some more Dutch paintings here.”
Actually, lots of people say that. No Breughels or Boschs to speak of, if I recall correctly. Lots of workmanly genre peices, and of course a great selection of Rembrandts and a fe wof his contemporaries, but for the most part it’s second-rate stuff. It’s enough to make many art students crazy.
September 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Some of it is was, but the greater part was preserved and passed by the Byzantine Empire.
And a lot of it was preserved in Persia, even after the islamization. Persia always had a particular love for literature and peotry, and was a very advanced civilization. Many aspects of Sassanid Persia were superior to Rome (Byzantium) at the time. You can’t really say that about Arabia at the same time, but that is probably why the arabs appropriated so much culture from Persia.
Now imagine if that Greek barbarian Alexander had not burned down Persepolis…
/Limagolf
September 28th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
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September 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Mehmet II doesn’t really deserve credit for “preserving” Agia Sophia. Building materials were expensive and hard to come by in days gone by, and just about every single church got “preserved,” either by having it turned into a mosque or by being expropriated for other uses (both St. Irene in Constantinople, located now within Topkapi Palace, and the parthenon in Athens, which was itself converted from a pagan temple to a church, were used as weapons warehouses). The agreement after Mehmet II captured the city was that St. Mary of the Mongols be protected and allowed to be kept by the Orthodox Christians. To this day, it is the only Byzantine-era Church that is still being used as a church in Istanbul. The Christians in the city had to shoulder the expense of building new churches for themselves all over again: even the Catholics of Constantinople (Genoans, I think) had their own church taken away given to Arab Muslims who moved to the city to use as a mosque for themselves.