Our Cultural Heritage

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The Future of French Restitutions: What the Law of 9 May 2026 Changes, and What It Doesn’t

Fon sculpture dedicated to Gou, Republic of Benin. Photograph by Ji-Elle, 27 May 2012. Source: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. By Aurelia Stauner...
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The Patron State: A Case Study of the Government Indemnity Scheme in the United Kingdom

Pennell, Joseph, Interior, Fitzwilliam Museum. 28.1 x 30.6 cm (11 1/16 x 12 1/16 in.). Nation Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (accession number 1979.20.96) By...
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Art as Collateral: Art-Backed Loans, Securitization & the Law

Image Credit: Follower of Marinus van Reymerswaele, The Miser, 16th Century Oil Painting By Dylan Cosgrove The art trade has always operated somewhat on its...
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Selling the Past: Los Angeles’s Stendahl Galleries and the Rise of the Pre-Hispanic Art Market in the mid-1900’s

View of Stendahl Art Galleries patio, 1944, Floyd Faxon Getty Research Institute, 2017.M.38 By Nicolle Riley History is rarely lost all at once. More often,...
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When Museums Become Crime Scenes: Who Carries the Risk When Art Is Stolen?

Photo Credit: Aurelia Stauner, "Outside Louvre." By Aurelia Stauner Within the last year, Europe has seen a positive flood of art crimes, and one can’t...
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The Mendelsohn Case: Implications for Future Restitution

By Kira Hernandez and Rebecca Amen In August 2024, California-based collector Aaron Mendelsohn filed suit in the Central District of California against Manhattan District Attorney...
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Spotlight On: The UK Spoliation Advisory Panel

Jan Griffier, View of Hampton Court Palace, 1710 By Natasha Phillips-Geen Whilst the Nazis’ looting of art collections across the territories they occupied between 1933...
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Beyond “Due Diligence”: Closing Loopholes in the Global Antiquities Trade

By Sarah Boxer The global antiquities trade runs on paperwork. Export licenses, ownership histories, and dealer assurances are meant to guarantee legitimacy. Yet the Giacomo...
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Spotlight: India Pride Project and the Future of Art Restitution in India

By Atreya Mathur Imagine scrolling through Google Street View on your laptop, zooming in on an art gallery in New York, and among polished marble...
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Repatriation in Context: The Case for Cooperation

By John Freeman Cultural heritage is contentious.[1] Recent litigation between the Getty Museum and Italy is a testament to the polarized nature of these disputes,...
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Cultural Property Advisory Committee (1983-2025): Its History, Implementation, Separation of Powers Considerations, and Proposed Amendments

By Devin Dowling Since the Center’s latest edition of Keeping up with the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, the Cultural Property Advisory Committee’s (“CPAC”...
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A Revised NAGPRA: Evaluating Progress Towards Repatriating Native American Ancestral Remains and Belongings in the Wake of Revised Federal Regulations

By Emily Yan One year ago, on January 12, 2024, the Department of the Interior (DOI) implemented historic updates to the Native American Graves Protection...
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