PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: WSJ; PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES (3), REUTERS, EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

The British Museum Holds the Line on Its Imperial Loot

Major international museums are increasingly giving back plundered treasure, but the London institution has long resisted returning artifacts from the colonial era, including prizes such as the Elgin Marbles and Benin Bronzes

By Max Colchester Follow, Elissa Miolene Follow and Kelly Crow Follow

March 24, 2023 9:48 am ET

LONDON—In a small windowless room in the basement of the British Museum sit some of the holiest relics of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: 11 small wooden plaques called Tabots that are considered by Ethiopian Christians to contain God’s presence. Each is meant to represent the biblical Ark of the Covenant.

So holy are the pieces that they cannot be publicly displayed—Ethiopian Orthodox believers say only priests should look at them—and not even the director of the British Museum can view them. Covered in pieces of cloth, the 14-inch tablets with carved inscriptions have hardly been seen since they were looted from an Ethiopian fort in 1868 by invading British forces.