The British Museum could repatriate more contested artefacts from around the world following the return of treasures to Ghana, it emerged yesterday.
Experts said legislation which bans the museum from giving artefacts away permanently would not prohibit loans to other countries, like this month’s landmark deal over the return of Asante gold to Ghana.
Museum trustee Chris Gosden said the British Museum Act 1963 was not an ‘impediment’ to other loan arrangements in the future.
But a similar deal over the Elgin Marbles remains problematic as it would require Greece to accept the British Museum as the legal owner of the sculptures, which it has always rejected.
The sculptures, taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are the most controversial exhibit at the London institution and a source of diplomatic tension between Britain and Greece, which maintains they were stolen by Lord Elgin.
Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II (pictured) attending the first public exhibition of looted artefacts returned by UK and US museums to the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana, May 1, 2024
Artefacts in a display case in their home in Ghana after being returned by museums in Britain and the US
But experts suggested other cultural artefacts could be repatriated to their original countries if their national governments were willing to accept loan deals.
The return of the Asante gold to Ghana in a joint project with the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum marked the first time that British institutions had sent artefacts back to Africa.
The treasures were returned to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the king or ‘Asantehene’ of the Asante, after he accepted the British Museum’s legal ownership of the golden royal regalia, seized by British troops during wars in 1874 and 1896.
The British Museum Act 1963 bars the London institution from giving away artefacts permanently, although there have been calls for the legislation to be overhauled.
Professor Gosden told The Daily Telegraph: ‘The 1963 Act is not quite irrelevant but not quite the impediment that it might be seen as being. It’s about the relationship and what is possible within the relationship.’
Other attempts at repatriation, including for the Benin Bronzes, have previously been hampered when nations have refused to accept the museum’s legal ownership of relics.