Repatriating culture

LOST, FOUND, OR STOLEN — populations across the globe draw their histories and origins from the artifacts that the generations prior left behind. Where they come from and where they end up over the centuries are often two separate stories. Last week, Pope Leo the XIV announced that the Vatican would be returning 62 artifacts that originally belonged to a host of indigenous communities based in Canada. The recent past has seen a variety of conversations on the real heritage of artifacts and where they ought to be displayed.

- SREYA DEB

This return is the culmination of a movement that went on for years, led by the indigenous communities of Canada, to which the former Pope responded with an apology, and the current Pope followed through in action. It was to undo or rectify the actions of 1925, which is when the artifacts had been transported to Rome for an exhibition, on the orders of Pope Pius XI. Until now, the museums in Canada were displaying reproductions of certain artifacts like gloves, shoes, and mittens, moccasins, smoking pipe, and more, the original pieces of which were kept at a museum at the Vatican as part of the ‘Vatican Missionary Exposition’ of 1925, which displayed over one lakh artifacts from Africa, the America l, Oceania and Asia.

As per the Vatican’s narrative, these were gifts given to the papacy years ago. The artifacts included an Inuvialuit kayak, a type of boat, a significant piece of Inuvialuit culture and heritage. However, the Vatican and the Canadian indigenous people are not the only ones debating the politics of historical objects of cultural relevance finding place other than where they belong.