Tag: Cultural Property Issues

The Italian Carabinieri are linking illicit excavations in the area of ancient Crotone to an auction house in Munich. Using drones, the police observed diggers excavating holes in archaeological sites.

A hoard of late antique Solidi was kept in a small museum near its place of discovery, the church of Sovana. Now 66 Solidi have disappeared. The police are treading in the dark.

Who opposes the antiquities trade and why? In the second part of this two-part article, Ivan Macquisten discusses the role of the media as well as cross-cultural misunderstandings in the debate of cultural property and the antiquities trade.

What is cultural property? What are antiquities? How do they differ? Why is it so difficult to distinguish what is legal and what is looted? In this two-part article, Ivan Macquisten answers basic questions regarding the antiquities trade.

Since April 2019, the final report of the ILLICID project has been hidden on a website. No surprise that it’s hidden. The result of the four-year study which cost €1.2 million in tax money can be summarized in a nine-page report. The IADAA has taken a closer look.

The European Union has passed its proposals for the import licensing of cultural property – unfortunately taking a big step backwards in the process. IADAA continues to argue that the measures fail to meet the EU’s own standards of proportionality.

Interpol has launched its new website. There is an interesting development: Baseless statements on the importance of illicit trade in cultural property were removed. This is important as these statements have been used in political argumentation.

In December the latest World Customs Organisation Illicit Trade Report was published. Cultural Property are the most insignificant problem with 0.2 %. This begs the question: How is it possible that politicians know about these figures and nevertheless see a need for action?