OCTOBER 14, 2010 – THE END OF TOMB RIDER

Statute-barred the trial against Marion True, the most loved by tomb Riders

Charged with trafficking of archaeological Italian finds, the Getty Museum’s ex curator is still not the scapegoat

 

 

The Italian trial against Marion True, former curator of the Department of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, U.S.A), has abruptly stopped yesterday, Wednesday October 13th, when the Rome court has declared it statute-barred. The charges were illicit trafficking and smuggling of antiquities coming from Italy, pieces obtained for the Getty Museum were also involved, a case without precedent in history. The trial started in 2005 and, during the following five years, the prosecution presented several evidence against the accused one. The first official investigation, on the other hand, began in 2000. Her appointment at the Getty Museum dates back to 1986 and ended in 2005, year of the beginning of the trial. Despite the long duration of the trial, the defence could not present any evidence in her favour. The doubt remains. 

The Director of the Indianapolis Art Museum, Maxwell L. Anderson, declared that the trial was truly important to create a sensational precedent, in order to control the acquisition of archaeological finds by the American museums. As a matter of fact, since the ’80, these museums often made use of suspicious strategies to grant themselves ancient pieces. Anderson defined Ms. True a sort of scapegoat that suffered in the name of a very widespread and entrenched practice. Even State Prosecutor Paolo Ferri stated that the trial succeded mostly in changing the habits of several museums in acquiring antiquities of doubtful origins. There are countless museums which, during the years, in exchange for collaborations and loans of works of art, gave back important archaeological finds. Among these, the Getty Museum, which gave back more than 40 pieces.

Maurizio Fiorilli, “the Bulldog” Italian attorney, defined by the Telegraph “scourge of tomb raiders”, who negotiated the return of countless finds from museums all over the world, underlined the duplicity of Marion True’s figure: on the one hand, she made the Getty give back every find wanted by Italy because acquired through robbery or crime – there are about 3.500 objects thus deriving from Francavilla Marittima archaeological site in Calabria – on the other hand, she was faithful to the Getty, for which she obtained a series of finds without seriously analysing their origins. The convention between Unesco members that forbids the importation of “cultural property” dates back to 1970. It was created precisely to prevent the removal of finds from the sites, such as Italy, Greece, but also Egypt and Perù.

The return to the countries of origin should not be considered a concession but a restitution of ill-gotten gains, as Maurizio Fiorilli, who usually goes by plane along with the works of art from abroad to Italy, has always declared. Beyond the Unesco convention, Itally is protected by a law, dating back to Mussolini time, which states that every object found on Italian ground belongs to the Italian state. The law, which matches the article 826 of the Civil Code, states: “The objects of historical, archaeological, paleontological and artistic interest, found in the subsoil by anyone and anyhow belong to the state”. Anyway, the charges pressed against Ms. True are statute-barred. One in 2007 and the other on July 11th 2010. Will the plundering in Italy be over?

di Daniela Paola Aglione – English Version by Diletta De Cristofaro