The Art Restitution Act has been in force for 25 years, and on the occasion of the anniversary, Culture Minister Werner Kogler and State Secretary Andrea Mayer (both Greens) described provenance research as a “necessary constant” within the institutions.
Now, Noch-Albertina General Director Klaus Albrecht Schröder is bringing a statute of limitations into play for the first time in an interview with the news magazine “News”: “This might be 20, 30 or 40 years from now.”
The Albertina has been actively conducting provenance research for decades and returning works that had illegally entered the collection. “But why leave it open ad infinitum?” asks Schröder.
The Albertina boss also refers to the current case of the Parthenon frieze, which has triggered a diplomatic dispute between Great Britain and Greece. “We can no longer demand the return of goods that were looted as a result of Charlemagne’s genocide in the Saxon Wars and that are now in various museums around the world. Seen in this light, I am also of the opinion that we have seen the horrors of the Second World War following 120 to 150 must have been worked through and done over the years.”
