In an article entitled "Return of antiquities hitting grave robbers in bankbook" The Los Angeles Times reports the return by NY Met Museum of Art to the Italian authorities, of a greek 2,500 year old wine mixing bowl and 20 other items stolen by tomb raiders 40 years ago from an Etruscan tomb near Rome. In March 2005, Italy and Ethiopia, an Italian colony under Mussolini, agreed on the return of the Aksum obelisk to Ethiopia.

It is a long established fact that stolen artifacts make up the vast majority of exhibits in the worlds top museums. Thus in 1970 a UNESCO Convention called for the return of antiquities to their countries of origin. Greece has been officially requesting for the last 25 years the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, but the Athens Olympics passed without any positive development, and despite an semi-humorous on-camera request from the then Greek PM to Tony Blair ("please hand back the Elgin Marbles - as you know I have elections soon"). China joined in in 2003, to request the return of over 1 m artefacts kept in 47 countries, while Nigeria has repeatedly called for the return of the Benin bronzes from Berlin and London museums.
With the progress in technology and education, as the culture for conserving cultural treasures has spread to all corners of the planet, and with the tremendous growth and popularisation of tourism, there is little argument for collecting these relics away from their natural location. out of context. Could such Museums be gradually becoming a relic of colonialism, in a globalised, equitable world?
Are Museums for the Museum?

Update:

3 March 2006: (Reuters) Peru plans to sue Yale University to recover thousands of artifacts excavated from Machu Picchu over 90 years ago.