Levaluation of heritage has become internationalized as museum and site development projects have emerged as instruments of economic development. The success of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Spain) was followed by that of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, and these successes inspire new, similar projects. France’s know-how, the expertise of its museum institutions and the skills of their staff are appreciated and make it one of the privileged partners of these future companies.
This deserved recognition honors it, contributes to its cultural action abroad and contributes to its universalist plan of understanding the diversity of the cultures of the world. Nevertheless, it obliges it to behave in an exemplary manner in its technical cooperation, to absolute clarity in the process of acquiring works and to great scientific rigor in the museographic studies for which its conservation staff are responsible.
Probity and independence
France had guaranteed to the United Arab Emirates, through an agreement whose approval was authorized by Parliament in October 2007, a “vigilant attention to the ethical rules in terms of acquisitions, in particular on the provenance of the works”. This particular expertise is exercised through the intermediary of the International Agency of Museums of France, commonly called France Museums. A simplified joint-stock company, this agency trains the staff of the Emirati museum’s acquisitions commission and offers some of its members chosen from among French specialists.
Jean-Luc Martinez, thematic ambassador in charge of international cooperation in the field of heritage and president and director of the Public Establishment of the Louvre Museum from 2013 to 2021, sat on the acquisitions commission of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. He has just been indicted for “money laundering by false facilitation and complicity in organized fraud”.
The Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property is wondering about the provenance of several archaeological pieces acquired by the Emirati museum, on the proposal of this acquisitions commission.
Whatever the follow-up given by the courts to this procedure, this indictment requires ensuring the probity and independence of the opinions given by officials to a foreign government linked to France by an international agreement, and possible conflicts of interest that could arise from cooperation between museum institutions that acquire works on the art market.
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