UNESCO to launch the first virtual museum of stolen cultural objects
6 comments
·September 20, 2025pipes
Where do illicit artifacts usually end up? Is there a type of person who buys these? Drug cartels? Russian oligarchs?
clcaev
To get a feel for some of the challenges, see the Yale-Peru dispute regarding repatriation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peru%E2%80%93Yale_University_d...
Here are related Wikipedia pages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO_1970_Convention — UNESCO 1970 Convention on illicit trafficking of cultural property
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIDROIT_Convention_on_Stolen_... — UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects
ChatGPT suggested these:
https://www.unesco.org/en/trafico-ilicito-bienes-culturales — UNESCO: Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/briefs/Tra... — UNODC: Trafficking in Cultural Properties (PDF)
https://www.interpol.int/content/download/16751/file/2020%20... — INTERPOL: Assessing Crimes Against Cultural Property (PDF)
https://unicri.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/Cultural%20He... — UNICRI: Cultural Heritage Smuggling & Terrorism (PDF)
AlotOfReading
Illicit artifacts usually end up in first world countries in surprisingly normal homes. It's pretty normalized. You may have come across things in antiques stores, or art galleries or coins on eBay.
Small scale looters steal the artifacts, then they're laundered across borders by organized crime as a funding source, and they don't care much where things end up.
upscholarship_1
[dead]
I remember being in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the guide said in a large hall “Only one of these objects is a replica, can you guess which one?” I said “Unfortunately, I know exactly which one because I saw it in the British Museum a week ago.” I got a look.