Restitution issues: impacting world heritage collections in Europe and Romania
Restitution issues: impacting world heritage collections in Europe and Romania

Summary/Abstract: Three years after the publication of the Restitution Report in France (2018), ethnographic museums across Europe are caught in an increasingly hot, ongoing debate on the possibility to return problematic heritage pieces to their communities of origin. Although in a lower key, the debate is also fuelled by the circumstantial ICOM initiative to change the museums’ definition as entities. I start with a theoretical overview then move on to discuss what determines the course of action at the cultural policy level. I emphasize the impact on European ethnographic museums in order to contextualize the presentation of the Franz Binder Museum (part of ASTRA National Museum Complex, Sibiu), the only museum in Romania dedicated to extra-European heritage. The impact of the European debate on this museum does not translate directly in matters related to the restitution of cultural heritage, but in an unprecedented drive to reconsider the object biographies and the way the collection was constituted, especially during the 19th century. The purpose is to include these findings in the future reinterpretation of collections aiming to enhance the relevance and go mainstream in the European museum landscape while keeping its specificity.

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