The Story of the 'Hamburg marble'Matthieu Aikins discusses questions of provenance and looted art

5 March 2021

Photo: MKG/J. Hiltmann

In the upcoming issue of the New York Time's Sunday magazine, the award-winning journalist Matthieu Aikins tells the story of the so-called 'Hamburg marble', a 12th-century Ghaznavid epigraphic panel currently housed at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg, Germany. In 2013, the piece was purchased by the Hamburg museum where it was quickly identified - with the help of Prof Stefan Heidemann (University of Hamburg) - as loot stolen from the Afghani government in the context of the civil war.

While the MKG and other museums worldwide are planning to return the looted pieces of art to Afghanistan and its National Museum, Aikins' article "How One Looted Artifact Tells the Story of Modern Afghanistan" goes further and discusses the more general questions of provenance and returning objects.

To read or listen to the entire article, please refer to the New York Times.

For further information on the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Hamburg and the exhibition on looted art, see the museum's website.