Italian Trial Signals Shift In Artifact Policies

“Behind this shift, museum directors, curators and lawyers say, are broad changes in the way source countries are pursuing and enforcing cultural property claims – and the public’s perception of those claims. Caught in the cross hairs, museums face pressure to clean up their act and embrace rigorous standards for future acquisitions – and to return prized works acquired in past decades. ‘In the eyes of the public, there is a sense that the museum is a greedy hoarder of ill-gotten goods, in opposition to the legitimate claims of the powerless’.”