Met Director To Publicly Address Subject of Cultural Patrimony

The director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art will address the hot-button topic of cultural patrimony on Monday in his first speech since striking a landmark agreement to return prized antiquities to Italy.

At a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, Philippe de Montebello will deliver a speech titled, "Yours, Mine, or Ours? Cultural Property, Museums, and the Memory of Mankind."

A spokesman for the museum, Harold Holzer, would not provide details of Mr. de Montebello's address, but said the director would reflect on the February accord with the Italian culture ministry and look to the future of the cultural property debate.

Under the Met's settlement, the museum agreed to return the Euphronios krater, a collection of Hellenistic silver, and several other antiquities to Italy in exchange for long-term loans of equivalent objects. Both the museum and Italian cultural officials hailed the pact as a possible model for future disputes, but Mr. de Montebello has since criticized Italy's pursuit of the claim, as well as its stringent cultural patrimony laws. Italy, along with Greece and Egypt, is now seeking the return of antiquities from other American museums, such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Princeton Art Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Mr. de Montebello's speech comes as he and other museum directors have taken a more aggressive public stance in response to long-running claims by many archaeologists that by continuing to trade in antiquities, museums are encouraging the looting of ancient sites. At a panel discussion at the New School last month, the Met director defended the role of museums in preserving cultural heritage.

Mr. de Montebello also is slated to participate in a major symposium next month organized by the Association of Art Museum Directors. Also expected to attend are the directors of the British Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as several of the country's most prominent archaeologists.

Monday's address will be Mr. de Montebello's second before the National Press Club, Mr. Holzer said. In 1998, he spoke on the repatriation by museums of objects looted by the Nazis during the Holocaust.