Saved From The Savages

Nearly three years ago I addressed the issue of looted, neglected or destroyed treasures of the world - whether the value of rare, ancient art and artifacts should be measured in regional and nationalistic terms or do they represent the foot prints of history pertinent to all humankind and therefore qualify as global treasures? I wrote:

Those of us born in antique lands with long and continuously evolving histories spanning several centuries and millennia, will identify with the question I am about to pose. It pertains to the theft and sale of ancient artifacts that leave the countries of their origin and find new homes in the museums and private collections elsewhere in distant lands. Trafficking in art and artifacts flows exclusively in one direction - from the poorer nations to the more prosperous ones.  India, China, Egypt and much of the middle and far east have seen ancient religious and cultural artifacts leave native shores and surface in Europe and America.  The fact that much of the art was "taken" by occupiers and colonizers often without even an unscrupulous middleman making money from the sales, is a particularly touchy and often painful aspect of this transfer.

But the story is not as simple as it would appear on considerations of ownership alone.  Many valuable objects were taken or stolen during colonial times.  In the modern era after independence of the host nations, some were acquired legally while others changed hands illegally on the black market. Most countries now ban the sale or transfer of antiquities but rare and ancient artifacts continue to find their way into public and private collections beyond the borders. It is difficult to speculate on the possible fate of the artifacts had they been left where they originally belonged. Would the local governments and museums have had the will or the wherewithal to offer them the wide exposure and  pride of place they have come to enjoy in western museums?  Or would they have crumbled, gathered dust and disappeared altogether? Do poorer nations have the capability to care for their priceless ancient heritage?  Given the immediate economic concerns of more pressing nature, should that even be their priority? There is even a question about how much value locals assign to ancient stone piles and crumbling edifices from a long forgotten era. Can those who are embattled by today's precarious existence, worry about yesterday's fine art?  While "creating" art is the prerogative of the poor and the rich alike, is "preserving" art a luxury afforded only by the wealthy?   The dilemma is indeed a wrenching one - place of origin or centers of preservation and greater visibility?  This is a bit like asking, "Are endangered species better off in their threatened and disappearing habitat or in a well kept zoo?" Should destitute and incapable parents give up their children for adoption or let them struggle and languish in a desperate family milieu? Difficult to answer.

There is another disconcerting factor to consider here other than the priority and capability of less prosperous nations to preserve their heritage. The political tensions that can often overrun the national psyche in developing nations can put historical treasures at risk. Changing ideologies can make monuments and artifacts belonging to opposing political or religious camps vulnerable to vindictive abuse. Think the rampage of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Think Babri Masjid in India. Think the magnificent Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan. 

Ah, the Bamiyan Buddhas! I am not overly sentimental about the disappearance of antique treasures, especially those that are lost to the usual ravages of time. But I find their deliberate destruction for political or religious extremist causes repulsive. The demolition of the nearly 1500 year old colossi of Buddha, in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan in 2001 by Taliban zealots was unforgivably barbaric, in my angry opinion. The images built in the Greco-Indian style that the local Muslim villagers had peacefully co-existed with for centuries, calling them by the endearing names of Big Neighbor and Small Neighbor, dated back to the Gandhara period when Buddhism flourished in Afghanistan. Ignorant religious fanatics thought nothing of reducing them to rubble for the sake of ideological purity, depriving the world of an awesome ancient record of inspired artistic tribute.   

Yesterday a friend and I went to see the exhibition Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. The exhibit comprises ancient treasures of art, worship and craftsmanship, some archaeological finds dating back to the Bronze Age. The mostly pre-Islamic relics hark back to Afghanistan's  mercurial early history influenced in turn by early Greek and Indian conquerors as well as the central Asian nomads who passed through its rugged terrain. The art treasures were rescued and kept hidden by Afghan museum curators and art lovers from the rage filled eyes of the Taliban lest they too became prey to the same fate that befell the Bamiyan Buddhas.

My friend and I found the well designed exhibition admirable and the efforts of those who saved the treasures of their ravaged nation from disappearing, even more so. An excerpt from the museum brochure:

Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul explores the rich cultural heritage of ancient Afghanistan from the Bronze Age (2500 B.C.) through the rise of trade along the Silk Road in the first century A.D.

Strategically located on the commercial routes between China and India in the East and Europe in the West, Afghanistan was at the crossroads of civilizations in Central Asia. This unique blend of cultures and artistic styles is seen in nearly 230 artworks: Bronze Age incised gold vases; bronze and stone sculptures of Greek heroes; graceful ivory apsaras, the beautiful women of Indian tradition; Roman type glass vessels and plaster reliefs; magnificent Persian and Scythian style gold jewelry; as well as distinctively local works. Gold ornaments from the famed Bactrian hoard, a 2,000-year-old treasure cache discovered in 1978 but hidden from view until 2003, are included. Visitors also will gain insight into how the artifacts survived the recent decades of war and chaos and will learn the stories of heroic Afghans who risked their lives to save these and other national cultural treasures from destruction during Soviet occupation and Taliban rule.

More, including slide shows, on the Hidden Tresures exhibits in the National Geographic.

Comments

[Nancy Hudson]

I accompanied Ruchira to the exhibit and found her comments to be very thought provoking. Ancient civilizations leave a lot of footprints behind that may or may not command the respect of the current inhabitants. Here in the US we don't often confront startling evidence of other cultures. Mesa Verde et al don't turn up every time we dig a sewer. I've found a few arrowheads in my youth in the Texas Hill Country, but that's about it. Perhaps that's why we gasped at the ending of the original Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston happens upon the head of the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand. Romans probably encounter such things every time they try to dig a swimming pool.

So I imagined a scenario a thousand years from now in which our culture has passed away and North America, whatever it would be called, is inhabited by a race of "people," or whatever they may be, who have no interest in history. Perhaps they are too consumed with the challenges of surviving without fossil fuels, supermarkets and the internet to have that luxury. They spend their time warring with each other and trying to see that their tribe survives. For them, the past has no meaning unless it can be plundered to supply current needs. Into this new world come some explorers who have a more sophisticated culture far away. Unlike our inhabitants, they do have the wherewithal to get excited about artifacts. In their explorations, they happen upon the pieces of what appears to be the massive marble figure of a pensive bearded man seated in a badly damaged stone chair in the ruins of what we now would call a Greco-Roman structure. They eagerly gather up the fragments, many of which already have been carted away to build crude fences to separate warring tribes, and they carefully transport their discovery back to their own land to reassemble it bit by bit.

When completed, their exhibit causes much excitement among the scholars and public, and becomes the centerpiece of a museum dedicated to the Mysteries of the Past. The plaque beside the restored giant says something like: "We may never know the identity of this intriguing figure, but his demeanor, posture, and setting indicate that he was either the representation of a god or an important ruler of this lost civilization."

That's better than the Lincoln Memorial becoming a fence, don't you think?

[ventana]

It's an interesting topic. I'm thinking of the Egyptian collection at the British museum...perhaps it's already been repatriated, or someday will be. Do I guess right that there is a large Indian collection as well?

I'm of many minds on this topic. I once coveted a friend of my parent's mesoamerican pottery collection. Do I think now he should have returned it? I don't know. And why are ancient artworks less important than more modern art? Should Monets never be allowed to leave France (even if the French hardly deserve them)? I'd hate to think of all the empty American museum walls if that were the case, or all the bad AE we would get in return.

And what about an Indian citizen? Should she be allowed to own beautiful objects of Indian antiquity? What if she moves to America? If she could take it with her, could she ever sell it? Only to another Desi?

If you were a landowner in India and found a beautiful and rare bit of antiquity buried on your property, would it be yours? What if you had immigrated there?

And not just art or artifacts. What if I were hiking in public land in North Dakota and (instead of Morels) I found a Velociraptor Skull. Could I keep it?

I do think Museum collections can be better preserved and I like how they are made available to all, but shouldn't Bill Gates be allowed to own a ming vase? And I hear your argument about unstable regimes potentially being poor stewards, but who are we to judge (even though sickening things can certainly happen like those poor Buddhas)? I recently read that there is collection of western art in Tehran, which while too prurient by their current standards was nevertheless preserved.

And finally, from your pullquote, should Afghanistan return some parts of their collection to the countries they came from? Can Italy still claim to be "Roman" when issues like this arise, and request the return of their heritage from Kabul? Can Saudi Arabia lay claim to the Alhambra or more transportable artifacts from no-longer-muslim Spain which was taken from them by force of arms (never mind what got them there in the first place)?

Kind of off the wall thinking, but the idea of unwinding rights of possession might have made me a little dizzy.

Carlos

[Elatia Harris]

Massively interesting post and comments, everybody. To say that the artistic patrimony of a country must remain inside its borders is almost to say that history, with all its frantic dislocations, had better not happen. Some art belongs to the world -- the Elgin Marbles, for instance, which would not be better off or safer in Athens than in London. They are, right now, where they can be seen for free by the greatest number of people, people of every stripe who have an interest in them. I think it's paramount to put the art itself, and its prospects for a long, long future ahead of the kind of national interests that make art a rallying point.

[razib]

i think part of the subtext here is the west vs. the rest. it's more complicated than that. consider the wackiness of saudi fundamentalists who have destroyed much of the historic architecture of mecca and medina. one of their rationales is that if people get too attached to buildings (this includes even the site of the tomb of muhammed) it's idolatry. so a lot of these people have conflicted relationships with their own history, and want to deny or destroy it (similarly, korean fundamentalist protestants have vandalized statures of buddha or damaged historic temples). it's naive to project back a nation-state sensibility to the past. many pakistanis don't see the roots of their civilization as mohenjo-daro or harrapa, but cultures of arabia, persia and the turkic world.

[Steven Augustine]

The question here isn't whether Human Aesthetic Heritage Material should/must remain within the borders of its locale of creation, but whether the direction of expatriation (or kidnapping) must always be towards "Western" money. No adequate storage/display facilities in China... ?

[Chris Schoen]

Elatia,

I'm a little surprised by your comment here about the Elgin Marbles. Put me in the many-minded camp of Carlos, where at the grandest level art and artifacts are the wards of humanity as a whole, not of whatever satrapy that happens to currently rule the land they were forged in. But there are mundane and political concerns here too, especially since we have as yet no United Nations for the humanities. There's no getting around the fact that the marbles were looted, with Ottoman complicity. I think it's a little too facile to presume that the British Museum is the de facto repositor of antiquities. Perhaps the crown (and the Vatican, and the robber-baron institutions in the US) could kick in a few coins for a "world museum" in some area that could desperately use the development, and the tourism?

To argue that more people will see the artifacts in London is a little bit like Secretary Geithner's position on bailing out Wall Street (pretty awful as self-fulfilling prophesies go).

[Ruchira]

Chris,

If you look at my original post on this matter that I have linked to above, you will find that I made a few suggestions along the lines that you are thinking. Professor Amardeep Singh too had a couple of ideas on how to compensate (or at least, acknowledge) for purloined treasures.

[Buddhas of Bamiyan]

It’s travel 3.3 -3.7 kilometers of rough ride through mountains, various shades of rocks, ledges & metallic relics. Apart from the famous Buddha statues from Bamyan, there are some fabulous caves around.

[Patricia]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Patricia

http://forextradin-g.net