Museums: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Comments · 15K

• SI

  @silvermegaman8519 · 3 years ago

  I once saw that someone said that the only reason Egypt still has the pyramids is that they were too big to be moved to Britain

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• WA

  @wanaxdigammes3484 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Fun fact about the Elgin Marbles: After the British Museum refused to return them on the grounds that Greece didn’t have a proper place to display them, they built the state of the art modern Acropolis Museum in Athens for the chief purpose of housing the Elgin Marbles. They still refuse to send them back. Also, when Lord Elgin was transporting the marbles to Britain, the ship they were on sank, and the marbles had to be salvaged from the ocean floor.

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• CA

  @CaptMortifyd · 3 years ago

  "The difference between archaeology and looting is 50 years." - one of my anthropology professors explaining the fucked up providence arguments of museums.

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• KA

  @KarmikCykle · 3 years ago

  &quot;Why do we have three of Gerald Ford&apos;s ribs? &nbsp;Because we couldn&apos;t get four.&quot;<br>Favorite line in the entire video.

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• SP

  @spornge · 3 years ago

  My grandmother found out her grand parents had managed to obtain an Eaglehead dress when she was going through our family storage, she contacted &nbsp;a bunch of people about where it should be probably donated, the museums wanted to not only claim it and planned to put in storage , but were going to fine her for owning it. Keep in mind she was not trying to sell just send it where it should be, thankfully a native American Heritage association got ahold of her and had the legal power to defend their claim on it so it did not end up in a box in a bottom of a basement. It was really gorgoues. I wish I knew where it ended up only that it ended up with a heritage organizaiton.

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• BA

  @backgroundambience4373 · 3 years ago

  This reminds me a lot of the Irish Giant Charles Byrne. He was 7&apos; 7&apos;&apos; and he was so afraid of a collector or museum displaying his body when he died that he had his friends bury him at sea. Unfortunately, before his friends could follow through with their promise his corpse was stolen by a &apos;collector&apos; and was eventually sold to the Royal College of Surgeons in London. It is still on display there over 200 years later despite efforts by activists for him to be buried. People with the same genetic condition as Byrne, who are from the same part of the country as him and probably share DNA have offered to donate their skeletons when they die so that Byrne can be released, but the museum has always refused.

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• HW

  @hwtabebe · 3 years ago

  This reminds me of an exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum. The place was empty except for placques stating what artifact should be there, which European museum has it and why the refuse to return it.

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• PR

  @PristinePerceptions · 3 years ago

  One of the biggest problems with the &quot;anyone can visit it&quot; argument is that many of them are not meant to just be visited. Many of the idols of deities from Asian countries were stolen from active worship. They would absolutely be put back into worship the minute they were returned. Many Native dresses and artifacts are still used ceremonially. These are not &quot;history&quot; - they were in use in the modern day.

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• DA

  @DanicaShardae201 · 3 years ago

  My favorite thing I think I&apos;ve ever seen in a museum is a totem pole carved by a local tribal artist. The museum used to have a looted totem pole, but they gave it back to the tribe and instead commissioned a new pole to be displayed in a section dedicated to the tribe&apos;s history and current goings-on.

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• SU

  @sunnirae1900 · 3 years ago

  Lets all appreciate that HBO puts all LWT episodes in almost their entirety for free on youtube without a shitton of ads.

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• ME

  @MegaNinjaRyan · 3 years ago

  Clearly that man never understood Solomon’s story there. Solomon wasn’t saying whoever loves the baby more gets the baby, he was figuring out the true owner of it and giving it back!

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• GR

  @greghodges2116 · 3 years ago

  One thing John didn&apos;t mention was how much more stolen art is hidden away in private collections. &nbsp;These people often have deeper pockets and less hesitation to acquiring art with a &quot;dubious&quot; ownership history.

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