As 2025 began, we wondered if looted art would return home this year—be it paintings illegally seized by Nazis, the Parthenon Marbles, or the Benin Bronzes. In this timeline, T&C will keep track of repatriation news in 2025, which includes the restitution of art, artifacts, and ancestral remains from private collections and national museums back to their countries of origin, or the rightful owners.
January
January 21: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced she was seeking $7 million to aid Arizona State Museum’s repatriation of Native American human remains and artifacts. “The hardworking staff at the museum have done their best to repatriate human remains and artifacts to tribes without any significant financial investment from the state,” she said at her annual Tribal State of the State address. “It is time for that to change. It is time for the state to take repatriation seriously.”
February
February 5: In 1940s, the Nazis looted “The Return of the Holy Family from the Flight into Egypt” by Jacob Jordaens from resistance fighter Joseph Scheppers de Bergstein, after he was captured and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 2022, the painting was discovered in Ardèche, and in 2025, it was returned to three of Joseph’s grandsons.
February 5: The Görlitz Silesian Museum and the heirs of Jewish art collector Otto Wachenheim reached an agreement over “Aechmea fasciata with Books and Centennial Hall” by Oskar Moll to remain in the museum’s collection. “The painting ‘Aechmea fasciata’ by Oskar Moll uniquely reflects the Expressionist movement, a key era in German art history. Thanks to the generosity of the heirs, this painting remains publicly accessible,” Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth said in a statement. “Germany is committed to continuing the restitution of Nazi-looted cultural assets and finding fair solutions to address past injustices. Therefore, the federal government was pleased to support this restitution and repurchase.”
February 11: The University of Richmond returned ancient, pre-Hispanic artifacts to Mexico. “Since 2018, more than 14,000 archeological pieces have been repatriated,” Felipe García Landa, deputy consul at the Embassy of Mexico, said. “This has been a priority for the government of Mexico, and these objects now add to that significant number.”
February 13: National Museums Northern Ireland announced it will return ancestral human remains to Hawaii. The museum is “fully committed to the rightful repatriation of collections to source communities, to address historic wrongs and implement the decolonisation of collections,” William Blair, the Director of Collections, told the BBC. The reparation ceremony is expected to take place in April.
February 14: The Cleveland Museum of Art agreed to return the statue of Marcus Aurelius, looted from Bubon, to Türkiye. Turkish official Zeynep Boz said the repatriation “corrected an injustice and restored justice in the end.”
February 15: A communion cup belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots was returned to the Helena Thompson Museum. It had been donated by Susan Thornely but was taken as part of her estate when she passed away.
February 18: The Manhattan District Attorney’s office repatriated 107 antiquities to Italy, valued around $1.2 million, recovered from antiquities smugglers Giacomo Medici, Giovanni Franco Becchina, and Robert Hecht. “Italy has unfortunately suffered significant and extensive looting over the past 60 years, and we will continue to do everything possible track down and return pieces that pass through Manhattan,” D.A. Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said in a statement.
February 19: Sydney University’s Chau Chak Wing Museum repatriated ancestral remains taken by Russian scientist Nicholai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay from Papua New Guinea’s Rai Coast to six villages. “Like many other institutions, the Chau Chak Wing Museum is reckoning with its past collection practices,” Chau Chak Wing Museum Director Michael Dagostino said. “We work with communities across the globe to connect them with objects, artefacts and remains that once belonged to them.”
Papua New Guinea celebrated the return of the remains. “These ancestors were taken by Nickolai almost 150 years ago, to support his work promoting one shared humanity,” Jack Simbou, a deputy secretary at Papua New Guinea’s Department for Community Development and Religion, said. “They departed the Rai Coast aboard a Russian Corvette and returned on a Boeing jet. Their journey spans time and distance and we extend gratitude to the Chau Chak Wing Museum for reuniting us.”
February 21: The Netherlands announced they would return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. “This restitution contributes to redressing a historical injustice that is still being felt today,” Dutch minister of education, culture, and science Eppo Bruins said. “Cultural heritage is essential for telling and living the history of a country and a community. The Benin Bronzes are indispensable to Nigeria. It is good that they are going back.” Olugbile Holloway, director-general of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said, “We thank the Netherlands for their cooperation and hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities.”
February 24: The Metropolitan Museum of Art returned a 7th century bronze griffin head to Greece. Per the museum, “The Met and the Greek Ministry agreed to the return of the Griffin after careful review of records and letters determining that it could not have legitimately left the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. The Met will return the Griffin to Greece and is looking forward to displaying it on loan by Greece to The Met for a planned special exhibition in 2026.”
February 25: Manhattan’s District Attorney announced the repatriation of 11 antiquities to Greece, “recovered pursuant to several criminal investigations.” The antiquities, including the Grave Relief, are valued at around $1 million.
February 26: Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments announced it will “now oversee conservation and negotiations” for the return of Benin Bronzes, settling a dispute between the Nigerian government and the Oba (king) of Benin.
March
March 3: The Art Institute of Chicago repatriated a 12th century artifact, “Buddha Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda,” (above) to Nepal. “This return reflects the importance of provenance research, as well as the Art Institute’s proactive outreach and collaboration with countries and communities,” Executive Director, Provenance Research of the Art Institute of Chicago Jacques Schuhmacher, said. “We are grateful to work in partnership with our colleagues from Nepal to return this object to its place of origin, and to collaborate and learn from each other into the future.”
March 3: Germany’s Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) restituted two artworks—“Portrait of Bruno Cassirer” by Max Liebermann and “Bruno Cassirer’s Father on His Deathbed” by Max Slevogt—to the heirs of Berlin art dealer Bruno Cassirer. They reached a deal to repurchase the paintings.
March 7: Manhattan D.A. Bragg announced the return of 20 antiquities to Nepal, valued at more than $3 million. “The people of Nepal have fought for the return of these prized antiquities for decades, and I am thrilled that our long-term investigation has resulted in the return of these objects. These trafficking networks are extensive and complex, but we will continue our work to dismantle them and undo the harm they have created,” Bragg said.
March 10: Indiana University repatriated human remains to the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. “Museums and universities have understood that it is not merely obligatory to return ancestral remains, it is also right and just. And if this is true within the United States, it must also be the case outside the boundaries of federal jurisdiction as well,” Francisco Nahoe, a Catholic priest who worked with IU on the repatriation, said.
March 10: While this isn’t a repatriation yet, it will be a story to watch this year: The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 9th Circuit Court ruling on the fate of “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” by Camille Pissarro, which is currently in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid. The painting had hung in San Diego resident Claude Cassirer’s grandmother’s Berlin apartment, before she was forced to sell it to the Nazis in 1939. The Cassirer family has repeatedly fought for the return of the paining, though the Thyssen-Bornemizsa Collection Foundation maintains it is the rightful owner.
“I am very grateful to the Supreme Court and the state of California for insisting on applying principles of right and wrong,” David Cassirer said in a statement. “As a Holocaust survivor, my late father, Claude Cassirer, was very proud to become an American citizen in 1947, and he cherished the values of this country. He was very disappointed that Spain refused to honor its international obligations to return the Pissarro masterpiece that the Nazis looted from his grandmother. Although he passed away during this long battle, he would be very relieved that our democratic institutions are demanding that the history of the Holocaust not be forgotten.”
Town & Country first published this timeline in March 2025 and will be updating it throughout the year.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
