public opinion efforts to halt the trafficking have gained a new urgency but a nation's prepared to act from berlin to beijing from rome to the syrian border and investigation into trafficking that's at the heart of an economic cultural and diplomatic war. paris february 2009 crowds flocked to the grown palace to admire the treasures contained in the private collection of eve sun the home and pierre ballsy one of the most prestigious in the world a few days later these precious works were to be auctioned off by christie's. dozens of masterpieces would be changing hands including these 218th century bronze

heads a rat and a rabbit which had once been housed in the imperial palace in beijing their sale sparked an uproar in china. was was. the cause it was not. but the present owner doesn't agree to that issue has given you credit it is there is there. on my shoulder shake a fellow miners of your own book lobby to create a cone that lay it actually. except that these heads was stolen back in the 19th century it was an 860 june the 2nd opium war when french and british troops plundered the forbidden city and ransacked the summer

palace. still today the destruction and faffed are a deep scar for the chinese people. beyond their aesthetic value the bronze heads are considered as priceless items of chinese heritage. should p.r. bags in their former return. to see architecture in a way to raise only paid you to do feel like i do it as she knew our surveys it be it it every day is a geek ok if you are right so you guys are expected i blog as your love for it day is really fake which probably publicly thank rick on that issue. you couldn't do it as an asus last letter he had to go on the boulevard to d.c. it.

was you so it was very fun to share as you do. you. think you. knew it was. you. think that. the 2 heads finally went for a combined price of 28000000 euros the conclusive bids came from a chinese businessman who asked to remain anonymous but 5 days after the sale the mysterious bio revealed his identity at a press conference in beijing and his announcement was more than unexpected. ways. well as a city in

a city that's already been well you know it's interesting to look on what it is here in that area. as the buyer refused to pay for the objects pillage from his country the big was cancelled and the 2 bronzes were returned to p.r. back. in china people continued to demand the restitution a demand which took on political dimensions beijing viewed it as a way to exercise a national humiliation but also to confirm its newfound international clout the 2 bronzes in the sun the home begs a collection had become symbols of the plundering of their country by the west for christie's it was urgent to calm things down with the chinese in 2030 the owner of christie's file swapping no himself sent emissaries to directly negotiate the purchase of the bronzes with p.r. . was would be agreed we could see

a near. from 4 to a p no s. this it had to be up there. she sees it for barely shores. officially from swapping no returned the heads to beijing out of friendship for the people of china but that wasn't all a few weeks after the return of the bronzes in the presence of the french businessman the chinese government finally gave christie's permission to operate in the country and exchange as described it. the much publicized case of the summer palace bronzes is far from unique more and more pillaged countries are demanding the return of their cultural assets the trophies of the renowned museums of the western world.

pillaged. and trees have a legal tool to negotiate for the return of their stolen treasures the 970 unesco convention signed in june the era of decolonization imposes on all nations to return objects obtained illegally. in recent years the pressure on renowned museums has intensified. the pergamon museum the most visited in berlin is obliged to know the origins of its collections. you start to understand that what you have here is not just archaeological object but it's part of the cultural heritage of the region or of these countries and at that point you realize you're talking about a political dimension or a cultural political dimension as a director i cannot say i don't know when somebody asked me how did your collection

actually come into being so my responsibility as director of of this museum is to know everything about the objects. well the key documents in this file are the ones that tell us basically that it was ok to take up the objects and this we have to do for everything and i'm considering that we have roughly 500000 objects you know that this is. a huge task ahead for us something that has to be done over decades really 500000 objects all and so that's an ongoing process that it will take until i'm retiring but the important thing is somebody is doing it every day because you have to have i was i was this is said to have made a new going to close the critics on the present is an ex-con bush said you know i said that is ideologue vick by example in jest music lamisil never emotional divorce exact emerged well yeah. the professor. and.

all the friends you see here have been pretty good. and we would be acquiring stuff anymore the pergamon stopped acquiring in the 1930 s. 40 years before the signing of the unesco convention which isn't retroactive this is. so the museum's collection is seemingly protected from demands for restitution but that's not the opinion in turkey especially in the city of tep younger guys and why they should use me and can. live for so often a mr. nameless and i. don't at all my. name is that on there was a question that i was the man i should when there was a debate the internet. and then say and then i said and as many people in this is from this is now you know that i've had. this black list includes objects on show in the british museum in london

but also in the pentagon in berlin although they were all acquired before 970 turkey still wants them back. it's not a question of museums anymore because it's a request of the state of turkey. they also are in the process of overcoming. colonial attitudes towards cultural heritage and in this process they have started to realize that. countries in the west have not always been upfront about their practices of acquiring collections begin to do yeah savation. there is. a palooka. here's john dowd and they can i know. given busy i'm. busy i'm no gunson

shante can and can't and then just begin to d.l. solution to the vitriol i said we didn't get in on why am i made. and was then considered in this new they are abusing in their zen correlation don't know. the pillagers happened over a century ago but turkey isn't ready to forget. like china and italy turkey has made the restitution of its treasures a political priority. within its culture ministry the turkish government has set up a special restitution unit. 40 or so lawsuits have already been won resulting in the return of over 4000 objects. one of the special units successes is the restitution of this music of orpheus stolen in the $950.00 s.

then purchased by the dallas museum of art after several years of legal wrangling the museum was obliged to return it. while pillage nations like turkey have a legal framework to demand reparations this isn't the case in the private sector where only the market rules. in this antique shop window how many artifacts have a perfectly established origin in many cases it's practically impossible to verify . does the private antiquities market have its own rules immune to international legislation you know asco had attempted to extend its 970 convention to better control private transactions a new convention adopted in 1905 the unit of wired convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects obliges sellers to prove the legal origin of an

artifact it also obliges buyers to demand proof but although the original unesco convention is recognized by 113 nations only 37 party states have committed to the united wired convention. so the market is winning thriving with its own often shady rules chadian as embodied by the freeport system one of the main thoroughfares of art market trafficking. the best known are here in geneva but the exist throughout the world free ports were originally special economic zones which stocked in transit merchandise to reduce or avoid customs duties are dealers who

are soon renting space in these huge warehouses to discreetly store artifacts by allowing people to store all kinds of objects without the slightest control free ports have long been considered as a hub of antiquities trafficking it's estimated there are over a 1000000 works deposited here more than twice the number contained in the movie. this swiss establishment guarantees its clients 100 percent confidentiality its high security site is protected from theft but also from prying eyes artifacts can be stored safely here for years sit behind. him on the. left you. know i mean he can join on would you like to find a not understood it should one image with one on sauce fish out or when your d.v.r.

would order to keep the tax. no taxation an appealing advantage for our dealers while the works remain inside a free port they can be sold and bought without being subjected to any kind of tax customs duties are only paid once when a work definitively leaves the freeport a perfectly legal tax haven right in the heart of europe. these facilities explain why the gallery phoenix keeps most of its merchandise in free ports and the showcases only a small part of the collection is displayed the gallery belongs to tom one of the biggest antiquities dealers in the world. in 2010

customs discovered in alley tons warehouse in the freeport of geneva this is 2nd century roman sarcophagus since then it has been the center of a complex legal battle. the stock of. tools will awful you know all over the people and sank are up high on love on do i live on this on the on it off and off on dr to for that's not hope you bleak put on your own music. so to saturday and don't. know jane i'll cup of lemon. 1st i said proposition to deny assume she miss you don't you have a clue jake do you see the idea. of home shop will add me read of get this used extraordinaire in p.s. the medtronic get don't get always the louse i met countdown do. in their

next year on cities used to get exam play and good news all morning don't say i'm a modest shock silliman of a more haste still from them out there learn the killed. near 0 lead you cannot as your phony powder mashonas it in success you and of course that the president don't know haven't. really hit me on the pond on the year. mariette kids who are out there here yes just the most ridiculous who belong on get heated this is sacrifice elapses did look at what they simply cassy live it equivalence in more in the clear early goodness. heavy faced with doubts over the object origin the sale was finally cancelled as the so called because it was probably looted in turkey swiss authorities decided to allow it ankara let your idea for me do cool let your key sit there.

but up was it you. impose it do i did it go see or just key man who thought they did agree. to set this exposed as short as it for you call the steepest yes your to put it in for it so it does i confess keep as to the tumble blues don't. all of a on a lot that follow the story of it with a document live only the longer to declare a loved one or both own them. except that after being restored in london this is a conflict as didn't return to geneva until 2009 so the turkish lawyer heading the case believes it comes under the new swiss law which demands every approachable origins for all works of art imported after 2005 in september 2015

swiss justice finally ordered the repatriation of a 2nd office to turkey but ali abu tom continues to claim ownership based on a certificate delivered by the company art loss register or for years that if you get positive early. book of us by that suit the glare is that if it our last night is the all cope what is a really classic may see both this late hour of. good it. is sucky sucky sucky due to a for me. what is an art loss register certificate the precious open sesame of the art market a document which states that an object wasn't stolen. founded in london 25 years ago as a private information service with over 400000 listed objects are lost register

owns the largest database of stolen artifacts in the world for a fee any buyer or seller can ask art loss register to verify that a piece is not listed on its database. these registrations these. could also be registrations from louisiana just in case items ever started on the register them on the database just in case they show off for sale somewhere else the most obvious examples of the surface from the national museum of iraq. in 20032000 full. and what was amazing is they were very careful and you can tell it was well planned because.