Europe and its museums should return the plundered art and antiquities in their possession to the countries of origin, distinguished religious statesman Rajan Zed stated in Nevada (USA) today.
Cultural property, which included art and archaeology, should be returned to originating countries from which it was looted by the victors, as they were the rightful owners, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued.
Rajan Zed noted that European museums like British Museum and Musee du Louvre of Paris should not continue to be the repositories for plundered art and should look deeply into the provenance of their museum pieces and repatriate those which were not theirs.
It was highly unethical to keep these artifacts, like Nefertiti’s Bust in Germany, The Elgin Marbles and Rosetta Stone in British Museum, Koh-I-Noor Diamond in United Kingdom, Chinese Bronze Heads in France, etc., Zed pointed out.
Rajan Zed further said that the argument that repatriating plundered artifacts to source countries would drain collections of European museums was simply laughable. Keeping these in Europe was a form of continued colonialism.
Artifacts would be better understood and appreciated in their original cultural environment, Zed added.