Looted art

Cologne museum to transfer 92-strong Benin bronze collection back to Nigeria

The Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum is the latest Western institution to return its collection of artefacts looted from Nigeria in the late-19th century

Crime news

Police recover bulk of objects stolen in audacious £100m art heist from Dresden museum

Announcement was made during the trial of six men which began in January and is due to resume this week

Looted antiquities returned to Turkey and Italy were seized from New York home of Met trustee Shelby White

An ongoing investigation into White's collection expects to see more objects repatriated in the future

National Museum of Scotland to repatriate looted totem pole

The museum will transfer the totem pole to the Nisga’a Nation of British Columbia

Paris gallerists—found guilty of selling Picasso works stolen by handyman—receive suspended jail sentences

Belle et Belle gallery has now been dissolved, closing the chapter on a decade-long criminal investigation

Benin bronzes online database goes live with details of thousands of looted artefacts

"Digital Benin" catalogue gathers together information on objects stolen from the Kingdom of Benin and now held in collections around the world

Disgraced antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor sentenced to ten years in prison by Indian court

The ruling culminates an extensive investigation into a smuggling ring headed by Kapoor

US court dismisses Nazi-era Guelph Treasure restitution claim

The heirs of Jewish dealers, who allegedly sold the medieval collection to the Prussian government under duress due to Nazi persecution, may appeal the ruling

Greek artefacts from American billionaire's collection will be returned pending exchange agreement

The artefacts could be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before traveling to Athens

The Metropolitan Museum returns two looted artefacts to Nepal

The two works, given to the museum in the 1990s, were looted from temples in Kathmandu according to recent internal provenance research

Looted Maya frieze once offered to the Metropolitan Museum will be fully restored

The elaborate temple relief, now held by the Museo Nacional de Antropología, was extracted from the Maya jungle in the 1960s and offered to the Met for $400,000

Egyptian antiquities connected to international trafficking ring seized from Metropolitan Museum in New York

Five objects worth more than €3m have been confiscated by authorities as part of a wide-ranging global investigation involving former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez

The hunt for looted Cambodian objects—are they hidden in the West's museums?

Plus, the dark truth of the Marcos family’s extravagance and Ruth Asawa at Modern Art Oxford

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Cambodia urges UK museums to investigate and return looted treasures allegedly handled by dealer Douglas Latchford

British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum now under scrutiny of Cambodian government

Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts

Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques

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Looted Roman bust, bought from Texas secondhand store for $34.99, will be returned to Germany

The first-century marble sculpture, likely stolen by an Allied soldier during the Second World War, will go on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art before being repatriated to Bavaria

Dealer suspected of selling looted antiquities to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Louvre Abu Dhabi detained in Paris

The Hamburg-based dealer Roben Dib was arrested in Paris last week. His lawyers say he will "fully cooperate with the investigation"

Two lots withdrawn from Christie’s antiquities sale after possible ties emerge to dealers known to traffic in illicit artefacts

The artefacts were flagged by Christos Tsiogiannis, who has, since 2006, been identifying looted antiquities through photographic archives of suspected and convicted dealers in plunder

Billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt surrenders 180 stolen artefacts worth $70m

The items have been under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney since 2017

UK puts temporary export ban on Tipu Sultan tiger's head—but commentators claim it was looted in the 18th century

The finial, valued at £1.5m, is one of eight golden heads that adorned the throne of the so-called Tiger of Mysore, which was broken up by British East India Company forces after his defeat in 1799

Antiquities think tank pushes UK to impose tougher regulations to fight trade in looted art

Antiquities Coalition has published a policy brief urging government to seize the "window of opportunity" in wake of repealed EU Cultural Goods Regulations

Looted Gilgamesh tablet returned to Iraq

The ancient cuneiform, once fated to be displayed at the Museum of the Bible, was sold by Christie’s for $1.7m to the owners of the arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby

Looted 2,700-year-old bricks—discovered in Swiss warehouse—are returned to Iran

Before the discovery of the more than 50 painted blocks, “the richness of Mannaean civilisation had not been appreciated”, expert says

The complex journeys of Nazi-looted art are revealed in new exhibition

Stories of how works by Matisse, Cézanne, Chagall and others moved around during Second World War are told at New York's Jewish Museum

How do you spot a looted antique? Germany brings in team of experts to help

Government has established €600,000 three-year pilot project called NEXUD to combat illegal trade in antiquities

When the US was accused of ‘plundering’ Berlin’s museums: new show reveals murky history

An exhibition opening at the Cincinnati Art Museum reveals how 14 major museums found themselves caught up in a “morally dubious” ­tour of Germany's art treasures after the Second World War

Looted Maqdala objects—pulled from rural English auction at the last minute—will be returned to Ethiopia

Busby auction house confirms it has "negotiated a settlement" after Ethiopian officials requested the return of items stolen by British troops in a brutal 1868 battle

Will the Queen return her Benin bronze? How the African treasure was looted not once, but twice

The 17th-century oba head was plucked from the Nigerian National Museum and given to Elizabeth II as a thank-you gift