Who Should Own Egypt\u27s Antiquities?: A Nation vs. The World\u27s Museums

For many decades Egypt has been trying to recover its most precious antiquities which, for varying reasons, reside outside of the country. Over thousands of years there has been looting, trading, buying, and gifting of these objects to museums and individual collectors. Recent history, however, has seen Egypt putting strong demands for the returns of these treasures on those same museums and collectors, as well as governments. The battle over who should really own them has ensued and continues to be waged with no end in sight. What must remain most important, though, is the safety and proper treatment of the objects and the best use of them in service to the global community. For this to be achieved, cooperation must be the key. Egypt is not the only country demanding its antiquities be returned, but it has been the most vocal and vigilant, especially since its antiquities service came under the leadership of Dr. Zahi Hawass. He has called upon other seeking nations to band together in the fight – a sort of strength in numbers approach. One of the most difficult aspects of this conflict, though, is the fact that there is no single international policy that all nations have agreed upon regarding how to deal with the issues of antiquities that they are facing. Because of this, it is difficult to imagine how and when a resolution will ever be agreed upon