Armenian Youth Demand Goddess Anahit Statue’s Return But British Museum Legally Unable to Provide It

A group of youth will be protesting outside the British Embassy in Yerevan Wednesday at 1 pm as part of a campaign asking that fragments of the statue of Armenian Goddess Anahit stored in the British Museum be returned to Armenia.

The Armenian Youth Foundation, the organizer of the demonstration, in a statement issued today said it will deliver a letter signed by “about 20,000 youth” to the UK ambassadors to Armenia. It is unclear whether this letter is the same petition a group has launched on Change.org.

The online petition, citing the website of the British Museum, notes that the fragments (head and hand) of Anahit’s bronze statue were accidentally discovered in 1872 by a farmer digging in Satagh, southeastern Turkey. The head made its way via Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and Italy to the dealer Alessandro Castellani, who eventually sold it to the British Museum. The hand was presented to the Museum a few years later.

“We petition now to return the cultural treasures to the people of Armenia in care of the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan, where a copy of the statue is currently displayed. Similar cultural retrievals have proven to be successful for countries like Greece and Egypt. Particularly Egypt has succeeded several times in returning cultural values from the British Museum. We can do the same,” reads the statement by petitioners.

The British Museum, however, is no stranger to controversy. It has been a notable target for criticism on possessing artifacts taken from other countries. A Wikipedia article on the museum states: “The Elgin Marbles, Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of these artefacts to their native countries of Greece, Nigeria and Egypt respectively.

“The British Museum has refused to return these artefacts, stating that the ‘restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world’. The Museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. Nevertheless, it has returned items such as the Tasmanian Ashes after a 20 year long battle with Australia.

“The British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artefacts under British law.”

Organizers of Wednesday’s demonstration say copies of the letter they will deliver to the British Embassy in Yerevan will be sent to the British Museum, and that joining them tomorrow will be RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan.