ON THE FLIP SIDE
Regarding your March issue Top 10 (Art Relic Animosities), as with every coin there are two sides. One: the country of origin has a full and legitimate claim to any artefact regardless of circumstances, no questions asked. Two: the artefact has been kept safe for decades or hundreds of years by another country or museum, protecting it, in some cases, from long-dead governments or dynasties that would not have been able to either store it properly or protect it at all. So, that country has earned the right to possess and display the expatriated artefact (which in many cases has already been possessed for many years longer than the artefact survived in its original country).
Each case is unique, but the goal should always be the same: do what is necessary to protect the artefact for posterity, and be the custodian of education and history for as many generations as the future has in store. Thanks for a great magazine!