This summer while at the beach, I finished an interesting book. I spend time at the beach reading when I can. I finished an interesting book called Loot. It is about the ongoing controversy concerning ancient artifacts, the purchase of those artifacts by Western museums (The Met, the Louvre, the British Museum and the Getty), the constant stealing of those artifacts by unscrupulous people, and the incessant making of arguments about who should possess these artifacts. The book is fascinating.

In the past, the West felt such cultural superiority that it took whatever it wanted when it found it. Thus, the bust of Nefertiti is to be found in Berlin, most of the statues from the Parthenon are in London, and the Zodiac ceiling from the temple of Dendera is in Paris. The West took because it believed itself superior and thought that its citizens should be exposed to all of these past beauties. The West takes, but then displays. (more…)