The Rosetta Stone, the Kohinoor diamond, sculptures from Greece's Parthenon known as the Elgin Marbles are all dazzling objects that bear the history of early civilizations.
But these objects were also taken by colonizers, and still remain on display in museum galleries far from their homes.
Over the past several years museums around the world have been reckoning with the looted treasures they have kept and benefited from.
Now one small museum in Nashville, Tennessee is returning ancient objects excavated in Mexico.
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Elizabeth Williams, Christine Cornell and Jane Rosenberg are among a dwindling group of courtroom sketch artists. "It's about trying to draw the most honest and true and real moment," Williams says.
Sotheby's June 26 auction of Thomas Taylor's watercolor illustration for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is estimated to sell for $400,000-$600,000.
Frank Stella was one of America's leading minimalist artists and a pioneer of the minimalist movement of the early 1960s. The movement challenged the idea that art was meant to be representative.
The National Trust's annual list includes Eatonville, the all-Black Florida town memorialized by Zora Neale Hurston, Alaska's Sitka Tlingit Clan houses, and the home of country singer Cindy Walker.
Host Brittany Luse sits down with Arionne Nettles, author of We Are the Culture: Black Chicago's Influence on Everything. Arionne shares how Black media in Chicago influenced the way Black Americans see themselves and why the city deserves to be called 'the heart of Black America.'
While some property owners try to turn a profit from the street artist's murals, others have carried the intense and costly responsibility of protecting them.
About thirty years ago, Yagya Kumar Pradhan woke up to the news that the temple he and his clan used had been broken into. The temple had been ransacked. And someone had stolen two holy Bhairav masks. Yagya says they had been in his family for more than five hundred years – since the 16th century.
Yagya is a kind of Hindu priest for his clan. And he says, these Bhairav masks were very holy. People made offerings to them during Dashaun, a festival held in the fall.
Yagya thought the masks were gone for good. He didn't realize... they were hiding in plain sight.
On today's show: The story of a group of amateur art detectives who use modern tools, subterfuge, and the power of the law to return stolen artifacts to their rightful owners. And we dive into the world of high-end auctions and art museums to ask: Can the art world survive the legacy of cultural theft?
Clarification: This episode has been updated to clarify that the reason the Rubin Museum is shuttering its building is not directly linked to repatriation.
This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Nick Fountain. It was produced by James Sneed, edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
Louvre Director Laurence des Cars said her institution is looking at upgrading both the visitor experience surrounding the iconic painting as well as the museum overall.
A federal judge sentenced Joanna Smith to 60 days in prison for smearing paint on the case surrounding Edgar Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen at the National Gallery of Art.
