On October 23rd, 2007, the Maori head kept in the Rouen Museum will be returned to the
government of New Zealand. Thus, this significant gesture states the position of the city of
Rouen regarding bioethics and the respect of peoples.
The government of New Zealand has been leading a strong campaign for a number of years to obtain the return of Maori human remains taken overseas as trophies by the European colonists. After Geneva, London, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Sydney… Rouen is responding to this call and has decided to hand back to New Zealand the Maori head stored in the Museum since 1875. Thus, Rouen is the first city in France to make such a gesture.
Maoris
of high rank, warriors and tribal chiefs wore tattoos indicating
their belonging to a specific
tribe.
According to their traditions, the head is considered the sacred part
of the body and the tattoo is a genuine social and religious
signature. The Maori used to keep tattooed heads of the warriors
killed in battles, and displayed them in a shrine, for all to
venerate until such times when the soul was considered to
have left the deceased. The heads were then buried near the village.
In the 18th century, during the colonization of New Zealand, tattooed heads used to fascinate Europeans who saw them as collectable curiosities. Museums and private collectors used to send real ‘head hunters’, to look for the nicest specimens; starting a new barbarian trade. This one involved the Maoris as well who rapidly understood that the heads could be swapped for arms and alcohol.
It is only in 1831 that the British government passed a law forbidding the trade of naturalized heads between New Zealand and Australia, putting an end to the trade.
Today, numerous heads are still scattered in Europe and the USA. Keen for their ancestors to rest in peace, the Maori people are claiming these heads to be buried according to their culture. Once in New Zealand, the Maori head from Rouen will be analysed by the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, and then given back to the Maoris to be buried.
With this ethical statement, the city of Rouen hopes to set an example and encourage other cities in France to hand back all Maori heads kept in their museums. Indeed, according to the 1994 law, ‘the human body, its elements and products cannot be inherited by right.’ The collections principle of inalienability applicable to classified works in public collections is therefore not opposable in this case, since these human remains were acquired in unjustified traffics. The Maori head is neither a property of the state nor of the Rouen Museum.
The Fondation Nicolas Hulot supports the city of Rouen in this significant gesture.
