Repatriation and Restitution

The ANU Classics Museum is committed to ethical management of its collection. This includes proactive research on the provenance of the collection, as well as responding to and managing requests for repatriation or restitution of objects from foreign governments. Learn more about our approach to collections management.

Article 6.3 of the International Council of Museums Code of Ethics states:

…a country or people of origin seeks the restitution of an object… demonstrated to have been exported or otherwise transferred in violation of the principles of international and national conventions, and shown to be part of that country’s or people’s cultural or natural heritage.

For this reason, the ANU Classics Museum refers to these cases by the term ‘restitution’ rather than ‘repatriation’, though the terms are often used interchangeably.

There are a number of possible outcomes from a repatriation request. One is that the object, or objects, is physically returned to the country of origin. Another is that, if offered by the foreign government, the ownership of the object is transferred to the country of origin, but the object remains on loan in our museum, with the appropriate labelling. To date, the ANU Classics Museum has retained objects on loan in the museum.

Some repatriation and restitution cases take many years to resolve, involving a great deal of discussion and collaboration. We are lucky to have many foreign embassies here in Canberra, with whom we can collaborate on these important issues.

One such collaboration is with the Embassy of Italy in Canberra, beginning in 2022 and continuing today. Stemming from three repatriation cases (listed below), this partnership has resulted in many events, publications, and initiatives in a project entitled: Repatriation as Re-education:combatting illegal antiquities networks through international collaboration, cultural exchange, and public programming. Through meaningful collaboration with the Embassy of Italy, this project has shifted the common public narrative of repatriation as one of blame and secrecy to that of cultural exchange and transparency, providing a new vision for best practice.

 

Current Restitution and Repatriation cases:

Italy: 

The Vatican

Cyprus:

 

Publications and Media Coverage:

Initiated by three repatriation cases with Italy, experts from the ANU Classics Museum and representatives from the Embassy of Italy worked together to publicly promote the cases to educate the public about the illegal antiquities market. 

The ANU is the only Australian university to go public about their Italian cases. A number of book chapters have been written to capture the repatriation cases, and the collaborative project.

Book Chapters:

Pike-Rowney, G., & Otto, M. (2025). Italian Restitution and the Australian National University's Classics Museum: Realities and Opportunities. In C. Richards, & E. Minchin (Eds.), Mediterranean Collections in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Perspectives from Afar (pp. 284-299). (Global Perspectives on Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology). Taylor and Francis Ltd.. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003464624-17

Pike-Rowney, G., Biguzzi, V., Otto, M., Leelasorn, A. (forthcoming 2026). Practical Provenance: co-produced Italian-Australian object- based educational initiative exploring restitution in the Classics Museum at the Australian National University. In Thum, J., Walsh, C., Jimenez. L. M., Haney, L. S. (eds). Teaching about the Ancient World in Museums. Bloomsbury.

Media coverage:

ANU Media Release (estimated to have reached between 5 million and 20 million people worldwide)

ABC 7.30 (Australia's premier daily current affairs program) story on the restitution cases

ABC National News Radio

Smithsonian Magazine

RAI News (Italian news corporation)

Italian Embassy website story. 

Events:

Teacher Professional Development Event (hosted by the Embassy of Italy)

Looting Etruria on Film: Alice Rohrwacher's ‘La Chimera’ (2023) - Panel Discussion and Screening