Efe
Updated Wednesday, February 21, 2024-08:36
The
British Museum
has defended its position against an online campaign by social media users
demanding the return of a stone 'moai' statue
that was moved to the London institution from Easter Island, Chile.
The London museum currently has in its collection two of the enigmatic statues - called 'moai' - that dot that remote place, and that were brought to the British capital from
Easter Island
, or Rapa Nui in the native dialect, in 1868. .
The campaign for the sculptures to be returned is not new but has been fueled after a Chilean 'influencer', Mike Milfort, began encouraging his followers to flood the museum's Instagram page with messages such as: "Return the moai".
Asked by EFE, a spokesperson for the British Museum explained that the institution decided to deactivate comments "only in a message" on that social network.
"We welcome the debate, but
this must be balanced
with the need to take into account protection considerations, especially with regard to young people," notes the same source.
According to the museum, the message with the comments disabled was
a collaboration with the
'Youth Collective' organization and included content that implicated young people, so the decision to suspend the comments was made taking into account the "safety" of that public. .
The
British Museum
also recalls that "it is subject to legislation from 1963 which prevents it, by law, from removing objects from the collection."
He highlights that he maintains "good and open relationships with colleagues from Rapa Nui" and recalls that he welcomed members of that community to a visit in November 2018, after which another reciprocal trip took place in June 2019, where employees of the British institution were taken to
visit cultural places to better understand that culture
and the meaning of its statues.
The Museum
hosted a new visit to its collections
in August of that year from employees of the Padre Englert Anthropological Museum, in Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui and in 2022 and 2023 several Rapanui colleagues and collaborators were invited for various initiatives.
The
island of Rapa Nui
is located about 3,700 kilometers off the Pacific coast of Chile, and is best known for its 'moai' statues, which date from between 1,400 and 1,640 AD.
Although many of them remain there today, some were transferred to museums around the world, such as that of Hoa Hakananai, which is part of the British Museum Collection.
That statue, along with a smaller 'moai' known as the Hava, were given to Queen Victoria in 1869 by the captain of the ship Topaze, Commander Richard Powell, and the monarch gave them to the museum.
"My followers started bombarding me with 'Give back the moai' messages on Wikipedia, and then the comments section of the British Museum's Instagram was filled with people saying 'Give back the moai,'" influencer Milfort said in a video recent.