Abstract
AbstractIn June 2011, France returned to South Korea nearly 300 volumes of Korean royal archives from the Joseon Dynasty. French forces had seized them in an 1866 military campaign, and the volumes had resided in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) ever since. The return is not a legally permanent restitution, but rather a five-year renewable loan. The compromise followed years of unsuccessful negotiations and a noteworthy decision of a French administrative tribunal that found that the seized Korean archives constituted inalienable French property. The legal debate over the Korean manuscripts illustrates the unique complexities of treating archives as a form of cultural property in armed conflict. In the end, the imperfect compromise satisfies neither side: The BnF is deprived of custody of items that have formed part of its collections for more than 140 years while technically, and perhaps uselessly, retaining formal legal title; South Korea, meanwhile, has physical custody of the archives while suffering the indignity of being denied ownership over its own national heritage.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Museology,Anthropology,History,Cultural Studies,Conservation
Reference24 articles.
1. International Council on Archives. “Resolutions.” Adopted at the 30th International Conference on the Round Table on Archives, Thessaloniki, 1994.
2. Why Do Captured Archives Go Home? Restitution Achievements under the Russian Law
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