The Independent/The NZ Herald 20 October 04

On a shelf in a locked basement room underneath the British Museum are kept 11 wooden tablets which are covered in purple velvet. No member of the museum staff - including director Neil MacGregor - is permitted to enter the room.

The tablets - or tabots - are sacred objects in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the most important of the 500 or so priceless Magdala treasures, looted by Britain from Ethiopia in 1868.

For almost two decades, the only people allowed access have been Ethiopian Church clergy; it is considered sacrilegious for anyone else to see them.

Now, as pressure is mounting for the return of the treasures, the British Museum has moved them from a storage site to its Bloomsbury main building and announced it is considering loaning them to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in London on what would be a permanent basis.

They are regarded as representing the original Ark of the Covenant, which housed the Ten Commandments and the church has been lobbying for their return for more than 50 years.

Handing them over - even on loan - would be considered a major breakthrough and increase pressure for the remainder to be returned.

The museum and the two other institutions with large Magdala collections, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Library, are re-assessing their treasures and holding informal talks, although legally they cannot simply be handed back.

But as a sign of the seriousness with which the British Museum is taking the case for restitution, MacGregor recently visited Addis Ababa to hear the arguments. The case has parallels to the Elgin Marbles, which the Greek Government has been demanding back for decades.

A spokeswoman for the British Museum said: "We have had some initial discussions over their future. The idea of their loan to the church is one suggestion that we hope we can move further forward." A loan, renewable every five years, circumvents the legal problems of returning artefacts, which has only previously happened over Nazi-era items.

The museum also said that the tabots would have to remain in London since there was nowhere in Ethiopia with the required environmental and security standards.

The treasures were looted in 1867 by a British force sent to Ethiopia to free hostages taken by Emperor Tewodros II. After defeat at the Battle of Magdala the Emperor committed suicide. The British Library holds 350 manuscripts from Magdala. Artefacts are also held in the Royal Collection, by the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and by individuals.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=3602156

Brits negotiate future of sacred tablets
Bignewsnetwork.com
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=760d704094190d8f