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Academic accidentally enters storage of British museum, discovers ‘looted Turkish treasures’
Academic accidentally enters storage of British museum, discovers ‘looted Turkish treasures’
A Turkish academic says she discovered 44 pieces of historical artefacts in the storage of the Victoria and Albert Museum after she accidentally entered there by taking a wrong elevator. Click through for the story in photos...
Demirören News Agency reported Jan. 21 that Hayal Güleç, a scholar from Süleyman Demirel University in western Turkey, recently visited the museum in London, which is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design.
After taking the wrong elevator, Güleç said she saw in the room dozens of pieces that looked like traditional Turkish tiles, çini, which is her area of expertise.
After returning to Turkey, Güleç was allowed by the museum to review 66 pieces. She later proved that 44 of them were 16th-century Ottoman artefacts, which were spirited out of Turkey in the 19th century by French restoration expert Leon Parville.
Güleç also revealed a letter from Parville’s son to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which bought the stolen artifacts in the early 20th century.
Beside Parville’s Turkish tiles, the storage also hosts historical objects from Turkish palaces, mosques, shrines, as well as an Armenian Catholic church, which were all stolen and sold to the museum by different people.
Güleç added that Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry has launched a campaign for the return of the artefacts after her findings.
None of the artefacts have ever been put on display, she said.
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