France Votes to Return Looted Cultural Artifacts, Echoing Victor Hugo
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France's National Assembly passed a bill to return looted cultural artifacts, with Deputy Jeremie Patrier-Leitus invoking Victor Hugo's 1861 condemnation of France and Britain for looting China's Old Summer Palace.
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In 1860, French and British forces looted the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Victor Hugo, in exile, condemned this act. Nearly 165 years later, France is taking legislative action to return such looted artifacts.
In November 1861, during his self-imposed political exile, French writer Victor Hugo penned a blistering condemnation of his country.
The author of Les Misérables described two “bandits” – France and Britain – who had attacked the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, in Beijing the previous year. “One plundered, the other burned.”
“The French empire has pocketed half of this victory, and today with a kind of proprietorial naivety it displays the splendid bric-a-brac of the Summer Palace.
“I hope that a day will come when France, delivered and cleansed, will return this booty to despoiled China.”
Nearly 165 years later, on April 13, as parliamentarians gathered to vote on a landmark bill to streamline the return of looted cultural artefacts, National Assembly Deputy Jeremie Patrier-Leitus invoked Hugo’s words. When the vote was tallied – 170 in favour, zero against – he declared that the day Hugo hoped for had finally arrived.
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France will begin the process of returning looted cultural artifacts to China.
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Offene Fragen
- Which specific artifacts will be returned?
- What is the timeline for the return process?
- Will Britain also return looted artifacts?
- What is the broader impact on international cultural heritage laws?
