Antiquities & Archaeology

Philippe de Montebello on the sack of the Iraq Museum: “Is it sensible for all the eggs to be in one basket?”

The Art Newspaper speaks to the director of the Metropolitan about the historical significance of the Iraq Museum's plunder and how disasters of its kind can be dealt with

Artists lead anti-war protests as the US prepares to invade Iraq

Polls show the public could not care less what the art world thinks

Interviewarchive

Interview with Sherman Lee: “Innovation, wherever it occurs, is ‘modern’, and people could be more modern in ancient times than we are now”

One of the great connoisseurs of our time, the curator of the current exhibition of Chinese art at the Guggenheim talks about Chinese art seen from within and without

Recent publications by Richard T. Neer, Barbara Barletta and Mary Beard delve into Classical antiquity

The Art Newspaper reviews contemporary scholarship on vase-painting, architectural orders and The Parthenon

Warning from Greek Culture Minister: give back the Parthenon Marbles—or your reputation suffers

The Acropolis museum is under construction, and the design for the permanent exhibition is in preparation

A short history of the Parthenon Marbles: Why restitution is not always the answer

A look at what happened to the sculptures from early Christian times to the 21st century, and the damage to those remaining after Lord Elgin bought the majority of them

Parthenonarchive

No solution for Parthenon conundrum as British Museum unpersuaded by arguments for restitution of architectural components

The reconstruction of the Acropolis requires the capital and drum back from Britain to be completed, whilst the rightful custody of the marbles is still in question

Solid gold, fake Celtic cauldron found in lake

If deemed a Nazi object, it belongs to the Bavarian State

Unescoarchive

Long the hub of the illicit antiquities trade, Switzerland is moving towards ratification of the 1970 Unesco Convention

Switzerland also debating new national legislation to make the movement of art and artefacts more transparent

Iraqarchive

Iraqi government's dam across Tigris will bring to an end the ancient city of Assur

The ancient Assyrian empire, along with over a hundred other heritage sites, will face detrimental flooding

The publication of 'The splendour of Iran' is a landmark of the independence of native academics.

Archaeologically, architecturally and art-historically, Iran is very much on the move

British Museum's findings on the Parthenon marbles cleaning incident said to lack key details

The publication is interpreted by William St Clair to be the result of efforts to protect the institution's reputation

Parthenonarchive

Letters to the Editor: “The Parthenon marbles will be returned, but when?”

Ex-Secretary General of ICOM weighs on on the marbles' status in Britain with an offer of compromise

Looted artarchive

Johnny Eskenazi on the cultural casualties of the Afghan war: An evening with Kalashnikovs and the Begram ivories

In 1996, the art dealer and scholar was taken secretly to the house of a Pakistani politician where he saw one of the greatest treasures from the Kabul Museum

Unescoarchive

Unesco adopts a new Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage to protect shipwrecks lying in international waters

However, the US and UK say the it conflicts with existing maritime legislation and Russia, Norway, Turkey, and Venezuela vote no

Cambodiaarchive

The Cambodian World Heritage site, Angkor Wat, is finally being restored

An ongoing effort to restore the ancient site has international teams working altogether but using radically different approaches, resulting in unexpected order

How The Met and the Louvre are complicit in the illegal art and antiques trade: Interview with Manus Brinkman

Museums must set the standard for collectors and dealers, says Manus Brinkman Secretary General of the International Council of Museums

Unescoarchive

In full: the text of the US Customs import restrictions on Italian archaeological material

The restrictions were imposed following a 1999 request made by Italy under Article 9 of the Unesco Convention

Will Mussolini’s looted monument finally go home?

After 54 years of procrastination, the Italian government could be close to returning the Axum obelisk to Ethiopia

"My life as a tombarolo." The Art Newspaper goes underground in the world of illicit archaeology

Cristina Ruiz spent a day with the man who controls much of the illicit excavation on the site of ancient Veii, one of the largest Etruscan cities.