Jacek Mazurkiewicz - Piotr Szymaniec

HUMAN REMAINS STORED IN MUSEUMS AS A LEGAL PROBLEM

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24040/pros.07.05.2021.ssp.141-156

Abstrakt

The problem of human remains stored in museums, i.e. mummies, archaeological relics or preparations at anthropological exhibitions, it is very complex in legal terms. In recent years, it has also acquired a new meaning in the context of the so-called postcolonial justice. Requests from states whose territories were formerly colonies or the so-called overseas territories for the return of human remains (e.g. mummies and Maori mokomokai) stored in European and American museums and other cultural institutions have become relatively numerous in recent years. Such requests may be submitted in the future in relation to some of the exhibits in Polish museum collections (mainly the remains of German collections created before World War II). In the conference paper, we will consider the legal status of human remains in museums (mainly from the perspective of Polish law), as well as present cases related to the return of the remains brought in colonial times and ways of solving them in various jurisdictions.

Kľúčové slová

human remains, museums, monuments, postcolonial justice