Unprecedented digital initiative: UNESCO inaugurates virtual museum of stolen objects

A Zambian ritual mask, a pendant from the ancient city of Palmyra and a painting by Swedish artist Anders Zorn are among the exhibits in the new virtual museum of looted or stolen objects launched by UNESCO. The project aims to raise awareness of the trafficking of cultural goods, a criminal activity with a global impact, informs AFP.

• An interactive platform for lost heritage

The online platform, accessible at museum.unesco.org, was designed by Burkinabe architect Francis Kere, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2022. The museum currently hosts nearly 250 objects digitally modeled in 3D, offering visitors the opportunity to examine them and discover their stories, origins and roles.

"It is a museum unlike any other in the world,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, emphasizing that the initiative has been in the works since 2022.

• Scale of trafficking: tens of thousands of missing objects

According to Interpol, a partner in the project, behind this symbolic collection lies a huge trafficking network involving at least 57,000 stolen or missing items.

"Through this unique museum space, we share with as many people as possible the challenges of combating the illicit trafficking of cultural goods, a trafficking that disrupts memories, breaks the bonds between generations and hinders science,” explained Azoulay.

• Identity, memory and cultural pride

For UNESCO, the objects on display are not simple exhibits: each artifact carries a part of the identity and memory of the community from which it comes. "The aim of this museum is to highlight these works, to make them visible and to instill pride in the populations. Each stolen object carries with it a piece of identity, memory and know-how from its communities of origin,” stressed Sunna Altnoder, head of UNESCO's unit to combat illicit trafficking.

UNESCO hopes that the museum will not remain a permanent one. The objects on display digitally should, over time, be returned to the communities or countries of origin. "The initial premise is that the museum will close because all the objects have been recovered,” says Altnoder. Thus, the "Gallery of Stolen Cultural Goods” would be replaced by a "Chamber of Returns and Restitutions,” where the recovered pieces would be presented.

• A network against a criminal network

The UNESCO initiative is not limited to online exhibition. It aims to create a global network of cooperation between police, justice, the art market, member states, civil society and local communities to counter illicit trafficking. "We need a network to defeat another network - the criminal one,” Altnoder said.

• A little-known but devastating phenomenon

Illicit trafficking in cultural goods includes the looting of heritage from conflict zones, clandestine archaeological excavations, the theft of works of art and counterfeiting. Although the scale of the phenomenon is less well known to the general public, its effects are visible: irreparable cultural losses and the fuelling of criminal economies. By launching the virtual museum, UNESCO is sending a clear message: cultural heritage is not only a legacy of the past, but also a responsibility for the future.