leader one. he's currently pushing for a massive march on may first against president nicolas maduro government medusa porters also took to the streets. hello and welcome tots twenty one. has a new lens mock the humbled forum is set to open in late summer in a replica oppression palace and it's long been one of germany's most hotly debated and ambitious cultural projects. that's what a place that will welcome the world citizens on it. that's the fifteenth in terms of investigation into the provenance of the artifacts humbled form his last ten years of funny people time to make what set this way of. the home with war for the good suggests he suffered in the history. the genesis of the humboldt forum

and the challenge is our focus this week on twenty one but let's go back to the beginning. on september seventh one thousand nine hundred fifty the government of the german democratic republic blew up the berlin city palace. it didn't fit with the ideology of the new socialist state. dominating the district of berlin it had been the residence of prussian kings in the german counties or for over two centuries now it was history. the palast there republic was built in its place the seat of the east german parliament the folks coming and the venue for key events. german reunification heralded the end of the people's palace in one thousand nine hundred the building was closed due to as best as. the discussion regarding the new image of berlin mr had begun. fans of the building fought to keep the palace to

a public others advocated for the reconstruction of the prussian dallas' even erecting a huge mark beside in the summer of one nine hundred ninety three. a third option a modern new building seemed to have no chance. on july fourth two thousand and two the german bundestag voted with a clear majority to reconstruct the old historic city palace. down to the tiniest detail a computer simulation was created. a lot of work. but nothing compared to the reality of executing the project. the prime minister of the public can to be demolished then international architects were invited to tender their ideas italian architect frank osterloh won the tender his design is

based on the baroque original just the eastern for sun it is modern. but what are the new palace be used for that's an issue that sparked a lot of debate the idea that one in the end is to create a forum for world cultures housing berlin's extensive non european collections in tandem with the european art on the neighboring museum island. the humboldt forum is named after the famous researcher and universal scholar alexander fund on board . construction began in june two thousand and twelve the government is providing five hundred ninety million euros funding an extra one hundred million euros have been collected in donations to reconstruct the baroque facade. aside from the building itself the current folk. this on the objects displayed inside restitution of colonial era artifacts is

a matter of heated debate and one the new make him you see i'm contacting a little. a gruesome murder carved in stone and discovered by chance in guatemala in the nineteenth century. incredible boat from oceania fit for the high seas but without a single nail. and a cave from china where buddhist monks prayed over one hundred thousand years ago. treasures from berlin's enormous collection. prussian rulers started these collections over two hundred years ago today they belong to the pressure and cultural heritage foundation the key player in the new book form. around five hundred thousand exhibits will be on display from all continents mostly or choir in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. known busta here competition to

the provenance all the history of the exhibits there biographies how they were made what their original function was how they were acquired and how they made their way into various german collections that's a part of the research on these objects which has become a key focus in recent years. and it's now an emotional wreck and in focus could. the times when cultural artifacts could simply be put on display in european museums are over. the flagship project at their home board forum is raising questions about the provenance and history of objects shedding light on german colonialism a chapter of german history which was long suppressed in the public consciousness. were these items stolen looted. or acquired by illegal means. the humble former. announced that it will host twenty thousand exhibits from berlin's ethnological collections over one thousand of them are from africa.

from the late nineteenth century until nine hundred eighteen the german i had for african colonies the native population was not only exploited brutally enslaved robbed and killed. during this period the german kaiser received a valuable gift the lavish throne of the king of bomb in northwestern cameroon at the time a german colony. what is the significance of such a gift when it is not among equals the sculptures and basques where they purchased or are they the spoils of war. oftentimes i think we have to deal with this issue you openly and transparently face up to our past but for them it's a unique opportunity for the humble foreign we can only find a new way into the future by working together jointly with the countries and

peoples of origin and by reappraising our past together. depression cultural heritage foundation has been carrying out provenance research for over ten years but recently it's been more intensive and rigorous no doubt as a reaction to the public debate and protests from organizations representing the victims of the restitution of certain objects that were proven to have been acquired by illegal means has taken place in the glare of the media news hammer on parting are afraid that his cultural collections good slowly diminish. his answer is diplomatic. there is no museum director in the world who can singlehandedly decide which objects should be restitute from their museum it's a decision of the state boards and organizations have to meet. these decisions so i think it's important to create a national or as i prefer to say

a european international consensus on how the restitution should take place to have some kind of ground rules on how to proceed. this could take a while in the meantime exhibits have been on the move to their own board for at full speed the ethnological museum in berlin datta where the collection was housed up to now has been closed for some time the last visitors came here in january twenty seventh team since then things have been packed. restored. and dusted off. the famous south seas boat said to be put in a disinfestation covered to prevent any harmful insects from moving with them. transporting larger objects is a challenge in daraa a wall was broken through and a gap was left in the facade of the farm which was closed up after the exhibits were forty and. none of these objects can be moved again easily we'll soon have

pride of place in this exciting contemporary exhibition. was in the museums are no longer temples of contemplation they're more like social libertarius that's why it's so fascinating to work in that the humble foreign will be an extremely attractive place to visit. within the next five transplants to set the framework for returning cultural artifacts taken from the african countries of origin. two of the experts the divine thing president emanuel my friend on the if you took time out to talk to twenty one. some forty six years old he's an economist from senegal. going to serve or you also forty six is a professor for art history. lynn and paris both are advisors to french president

manuel my call. in a speech in burkina faso in november twenty seventh teen mark on announced that france would be restitution looted art and artifacts from its former colonies serve or i'm sorry written a feasibility study on this issue with some politically explosive content. and if you do level there are around ninety thousand objects in the french national museums and we were able to prove that two thirds of them entered the collections during the colonial era either spoils of war or through scientific expeditions purchased as gifts or bequests. if appropriation of the property occurred against the will of the people we researched whether there are restitution claims in the countries of its origin or is a strategy to begin the fun always does that in most cases there was no permission to take the objects of plenty of reports confirm this also whether with scientific expeditions in fear of your vessel we recommend that if there is

a restitution claim the objects should be returned without any great difficulty it has to have as an immediate in the media we read about a fear that museum showcases will be empty in five years. is that realistic is this list of yours that any thought for it no it's not the objects that came into the collections over centuries and they won't all be returned within five years is good and sin is if he sticks about a few key pieces which are very important for the history or identity of the country of origin we're talking about a few hundred at most not tens of thousands of objects to be sent thousand. or how with the reactions to president micron's idea for us to choosing all to fox or lou to dot with us to read to him via the reactions we heard were very. we traveled through fool african francophone countries to talk to acknowledge. in the

republic of beneath the memory of the destruction of that kingdom by the french you know the memory of french colonial history is still very strong. as they ought to do with everybody remembers that there was a king that he was sent into exile and that the palace was burned down. perhaps not everyone knows that two thousand objects then found their way to paris but once you know that objects came to paris then as a result of this plunder well even a school child can put two and two together those who can't take no person. and along with that african curators have thought about how to fill the empty spaces left in european museums after the restitution for me this means important consideration of the relationship the exchange between africa and europe we have a book off in your book of return which has now been published in german you describe how africa is always described from outside as

a continent in decline dying and riddled with catastrophes. what is the current debate about restitution say about the way europe perceives africa today of africa isn't that interesting lee we are now hearing arguments which reveal a deep seated cum dissension towards africa whispers that there are no museums there or that africans are incapable of taking care of their own works of art or cultural heritage not everyone is saying it out loud but many people are convinced that the objects would be much safer in europe and it would even be for the good of africa if they were kept in europe. it means we have a lot of work ahead to be colonized the european perception of africa they couldn't is in order to pull the new ends provenance research has only really just got going yet the humble foreign member lin is about to open in twenty nineteen how can that work kind of giving him. as with the susan my recommendation would be that the

museums publish their inventor. but this would basically mean that we see museums in the same way as libraries a library without a catalogue is just a pile of books at the look under museum without an inventor e which is available to the public is simply a pile of objects that no one really knows what to do with my advice on fun come what good is it what does this debate mean to you personally but to the sort of as with the don't reside there me it's important to show the dark side of museums that normally only show us the best science as const behind the transparency of the provenance of the stories of where the objects actually come from that's very important to me it's vis now we have this debate began and everyone knows that the background of these collections is a difficult one. for me and that's a big step. daughter and i mean thanks for talking to us and. them multi-disciplinary humboldt lab tanzania project explores preston's of

cultural heritage with reference to the tanzanian antti facts appropriated during the years of german colonial rule. a plate with mysterious inscription brought to berlin and eighteen ninety six as a cheap wardrobe. for years it was mistaken for a gong. after one hundred twenty years it's true purpose has finally come to flight . recorders and we showed pictures of it to scribes near the city of kill work to see why any where this object had originally been expert created and they were able to decipher the writing part and the spot at the head it turned out to be a story from the qur'an. which clearly showed that this object was a protective thomas. protection perhaps in the battle against german colonial rule. for three

years the humble tanzania examined objects that had found their way to the ethnological collections as war trophies and spoils objects that the german occupiers in east africa had often taken with brute force. and give us up as a comment like that in a way you could say it was a sort of collective morning with these colleagues it brought up so many emotions. about seven thousand kilometers further south in darkness a lot more towns in the u.s. government sits. tucked away between modern skyscrapers are witnesses to the country's colonial past the germans created these botanical gardens nearby the national museum a partner of the humbled by tanzania. there over ten thousand artifacts from former germany east africa still stored in berlin alone. it

was a shock knowing that they have a lot of court actions that belong to the company or the german calling your question but. these collections were not on display they were close by this storage so no one knew where that the company i knew or that german knew. the university of dar es salaam also helped to determine the origins and meanings of what was found a difficult process. and that's most of these objects if they were planned and they looked it may mean that there is a very of it will inform the ship about the biography. that's. north of. it was the capital of former german east africa between eighteen eighty five in one thousand nine

hundred eighteen the dream of the german empire of being a colonial power finally came true.