Modernizing Pompeii // 3 historic French laws // Mayan throne illegally removed from Guatemala

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Buy Amara. This is a weekly news show where I discuss contemporary events in the art and history fields.

I'm your host and personal curator, Amara Andrew. The format for the show that I typically follow sometimes, only on certain days, is one traditionally used by Western brides: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. This week, we're going to have one something old, one something new, and one something borrowed.

This week we're talking about modernizing Pompeii, three historic French laws, and a Mayan throne illegally removed from Guatemala. All that and more coming up on this episode of Buy Amara. Let's get to it.

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So first, let's start with updates. Obviously, as you can hear or see or both, and/or, oh I hit my elbow, sorry. We are back from Miami Beach.

It was beyond lovely to be there. The sun was shining. It's The sun is actually shining here in Chicago now, which it's been just super gray since we got back.

So, I'm very happy to see the sun has come with us for a little bit. We are back from Miami Beach. It was absolutely fantastic minus the random cold front that was there when we were there.

I think I said in the previous episode that actually changed Art Deco Weekend for me a little bit just because it was so cold. It was, and mentally I wasn't prepared for it to be cold. I was thinking, "Oh it's going to be 80° and sunny." So, that changed things a little bit, unfortunately, for our trip.

However, we made the most of it. Art Deco Weekend was absolutely fabulous. I loved it.

I wanted to take every single tour that was offered through the Miami Design Preservation League, didn't have enough time or money for that, but it was super fun the tours that we did go on and I absolutely loved it. Shout out to Melinda, who was our tour guide there. You were fantastic and just did an awesome job and you were very lovely.

So, thank you so much for a wonderful tour. If you have any interest in Art Deco, anything, you have to go here. There's like a street fair during the weekend where they have a bunch of different vendors and a lot of actually Art Deco memorabilia and things like that are being sold.

I wanted to buy everything Art Deco. I almost went on a huge shopping spree, but I was like, "No, you have nowhere to put it, what are you doing? You need to calm down, like don't buy anything." So, if you're into Art Deco at all, really you have to go check it out.

It is amazing. I think there's actually another Art Deco thing that's happening in April in Miami. I'm not too sure.

So, you could check that out too if you'd like. It's just It's so cool. You get to go through all the hotels, which you can do anytime of year, doesn't have to be Art Deco Weekend.

I actually had no idea the public could just go into these historic hotels until our tour guide, like I mentioned Melinda, until she said it and she's like, "Yeah, you can access absolutely just go through there and see all the Art Deco things." I don't know, I loved it. It was amazing. I am very tan also, if you are listening to this, just imagine me, but very dark.

I don't even know why I'm bringing this up, honestly, but I just I tan so easily, I have like yellowy undertones like olive skin tones, so, yeah. So, I'm I am tan. I am very tan.

Geoff also got tan, but I beat him in tanness. It's funny, growing up in Arizona, I never wanted to be tan. I actually didn't like it just because I think everybody else is tan, so it's like, "Well, I want to be a little different." But now, it's like the sun I just want to feel the sun.

I used to hate the sun growing up because it was just constant everywhere all the time, I couldn't escape it in Arizona. Here though, the sun is like a novelty where it's like, "Oh, my god! I can feel the sun.

It's amazing!" Like today, right now, my mood instantly improved when the sun came out. I think that's about it. I had a really long eyebrow hair.

I don't know why I'm sharing any of this with you. I had a really long eyebrow hair this morning. It was like, I shit you not, 3/4 of an inch is inch inches of an inch long.

It was huge! I was like, "How did I not see this for, I mean, weeks or months, however long it took for it to grow?" C- That sucker's been up there for weeks. Have you ever had that where there's like that one thing, or like I know people get the hair out of their neck where it's like a really long, weird, white hair that just like somehow surfaces for no reason?

Those are so weird! It's also like, why didn't anybody tell me? Like even if somebody random on the street was like, "Hey, your eyebrow hair is sticking straight out and it's like 10 ft long," thank you, I would love to know that so then I can take care of it.

I'm one of those people where it's like, please tell me if there's like something weird going on because I would love to know. Like if there's like a hair coming out of my neck, I might not see that. I don't really look in the mirror that often, or if I do, I'm focused on any other thing that's going on.

So, anyway, I guess the moral of the story is tell people if you see that they have a long eyebrow hair sticking out, that's like almost touching you while you're talking to them. On that note, let me get to the show.

So, when you think of old landmarks, you probably think about preserving them first and foremost, right? Well, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii is also looking to modernize them, as well. This is such a cool story.

I had no idea that this was even going on, and I am obsessed with it. Like, I love it. So, let's get into it.

So first, to start off, each year over three and a half million tourists from all over the globe go to visit Pompeii and also neighboring Herculaneum, like that whole little archaeological park. And because of this, Pompeii needed electricity in order to light the frescoes that are within each of these like different buildings and temples, and things like that.

So, how do you do that? Well, you do it the old-fashioned way where you have like a series of poles, and cables, and lights, and everything everywhere, which not only could be like a tripping hazard for people, which I know that things are marked clearly like, "Hey, watch out for this," but also, it just totally ruins the authentic vibe of going to this ancient city.

Like, you go there, and then you see all these cables running around. It's like, "Oh, that definitely changes the vibe. This doesn't look as like authentic as maybe you had hoped." So, a new genius solution was figured out how to power these light sources and various other things in the archaeological park.

A series of terracotta tiles that look just like the ones that ancient Romans installed in Pompeii, as well as Herculaneum, were installed. But these aren't just tiles. They're solar panels!

It's so cool! And there's a really cool process to it. I'm about to get into it.

These tiles are called traditional PV tiles, and they were actually created by the company Dyaqua located in a nearby town called Camisano Vicentino. The tiles themselves are made from a polymer compound, which allows the sun's rays to filter through. So then, the photovoltaic cells that are integrated into it by hand are then covered with a layer of the polymer compound.

They can then also be made to look like stone, wood, concrete, and brick. So, they can be installed not only on the roofs of these buildings, but also like in the walls and things like that, and make it look like it fits in with any scenery. Not only do these solar panels like make the landscape look a lot more authentic and ancientified, but this also saves them a shit ton of money.

As of now, these panels are only on a few structures within the park, like the House of Ceres, the Thermopolium, and also the House of the Vettii. But what's really cool is, in addition to Pompeii, these tiles have also been used outside of this archaeological park in Vicoforte and will soon be used in Rome's Museum of Contemporary Art called MAXXI.

And these tiles aren't just sticking around in Rome. They're actually going to be used in public buildings in Croatia and Portugal, too, which is really fun. I think I just find this really cool because they had no idea, like obviously solar panels and solar energy is not super new, like it's been around for a bit.

But I just find it really cool taking these ancient structures, which are being preserved and saved for posterity, and then adding this new modern way to save money and also keep the integrity of the structure. I think that's so cool. Like I love just like these things are already going to be here, we're going to try to save them for as long as possible, so might as well make them like multi-purpose.

As of now, there's currently no apparent downside to utilizing these tiles on this ancient architecture. And I just, like I said, I think it's beyond fascinating to repurpose these ancient structures. Not only do they serve a historical educational function, but they're also super enlightening.

You get it? Bet you didn't miss those jokes. Anyway, on to our next story.

It really helps having the music again. When I was recording on Ocean Drive in South Beach, it was just so difficult because I was trying to think like, "I know what the music sounds like," but then I was like, "Oh, my god! I'm like mixing them up," and I couldn't remember exactly how long, and blah.

I could have just listened to it on my phone, but I don't know, I wanted to freeball it, I guess. Doesn't apply there at all. So, anyway, it just it helps a lot.

So, our next story: This year, 2023, France hope to be passing three laws that'll make restitution of contentious artworks and human remains in France's public collections easier to return. Public collections, specifically, not private, we're only talking public here. The proposed laws are specifically aimed at addressing the return of human remains, works belonging to Jewish families persecuted during the Nazi era, and the restitution of art objects, particularly those that were taken during France's colonial era.

If these are actually signed and passed, these laws would allow these items within the national collection to be returned without individual approval from the French Parliament. So, as of right now, trying to get like the okay from French Parliament is a huge pain in the ass, just like working with any sort of governmental whatever.

And as we've seen with the British Museum and the Parthenon marbles, and British Parliament, and that whole fiasco, I talked about that in last episode and then two episodes ago, so go check those out. It is just a huge problem whenever you get government agencies involved, which I get that it's supposed to be for like the good, but whatever.

When I actually, I used to work as an archivist at University of Illinois, Chicago, and it was always difficult to get rid of things because if there were like duplicates of things, you could typically get away with it without having to do anything special. But if you wanted to get rid of massive parts of a collection, or boxes, or whatever in these archival collections, you would have to fill out a form and appeal to the state, and then the state archivist would have to be like "yay" or "nay," and it was this it's a whole big thing.

It's just a pain in the ass, and it's like, okay, well, I guess we'll just save everything then, which then is a problem with storage, and blah. So, anyway, back to the story though. Trying to deal with any sort of governmental anything is a really big problem.

What France is proposing to do instead, also, is to create special committees for each object. These special committees would be composed of scientific experts, legal experts, and people from the respective countries that are requesting restitution. This way, this entire little group can determine, "Yes, this should be returned and removed from France's public collection to the party involved, to the people who are asking for it back." This committee then would determine if an object, so they'll go object by object, it sounds like, but if this object would meet the criteria to be removed from France's public collection, and then if it should be returned or not.

So, I guess it's like a two-fold kind of question. I just assumed if it was removed, it would be returned, but it looks the way that it was worded, it looks like it's a two-step sort of process. Also, of special note, in their announcement, the French Cultural Ministry said that the bill relating to Nazi-stolen and Nazi-looted artwork would be the first ever to offer the chance to legally acknowledge crimes committed against Jewish people by the French state during World War II.

So, that is a huge step in the proper direction, which would be amazing. Also, the return of objects that were taken during France's colonial history has taken new precedence lately within the past couple years, specifically looking at African artifacts. In 2017, President Macron pledged to return African artifacts from France to help ease the relations with former French colonies.

But, there is a big problem with this, which is also why these laws are being enacted, or at least like brought to attention, France is very slow with their restitution. Of the roughly 90,000 African artifacts in the public collection of France, it looks like only 28 have been returned so far. So, since 2017 when President Macron made this huge like, "Hey, we're going to do this," only 28 things have been returned.

That's cool. I'm glad there's like a little bit of progress, you're chipping away a little bit, but that's like absolutely nothing. That is not even a ninth of this, or a tenth, or whatever, I'm not good at math, but that is such a tiny portion of this huge collection that needs to be rectified.

So, like I said, I'm guessing that is also part of what led to the proposal of these three laws. I hope they all get passed, and I hope it's just a nice, easy process to get them passed because it's the right thing.

In our final story today, a Mayan throne and panel were illegally removed from Guatemala to The Met in New York. What's even more disturbing about this, though, is not only were they illegally removed, which we'll get into that in just 1 second, but that these pieces are also being put on exhibition. Normally, how it works is Guatemalan law actually prohibits the international loan of Mayan artifacts for exhibitions.

An exception, though, was made by the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture and Sports because The Met is providing restoration work on the Mayan throne and panel in exchange for being able to exhibit it in their collection, or in their exhibition right now, rather. Just a little bit of backstory: the throne was created in the year 785, and the panel is like circa 782.

These items belong to the Museo, and apologies as always for mispronunciations, Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología in Guatemala City. So, the items were transported to The Met in August 2021, not without a lot of public outcry, but we'll get to that, like I said, in a minute. So, transported to The Met in August 2021 and are scheduled to return April 2nd, 2023, after the close of the exhibition at The Met.

So, this is where things get really not good. In a public letter to the Guatemalan government by the Guatemalan Collective for the Defense of Heritage, a series of groups claim that the throne and panel were illegally exported to The Met against the will of, and apologies for mispronunciations again, against the will of the Askiq' organizations, Indigenous organizations, institutions, and archaeologists who all oppose the departure of these pieces.

So, to break that down, the Guatemalan government apparently had made secret plans with The Met to have the throne and panel restored by The Met through a quote, "rare temporary export authorization," in exchange for it to be placed on view at The Met's exhibition, Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art. While the conservator at The Met who dealt with all the restorations is quoted as saying that they worked, quote, "closely with Guatemalan officials and Maya communities throughout this whole process," it's also of note that opposing groups, like all the ones I just mentioned, had already filed complaints with the Guatemalan Cultural Heritage Prosecutor's Office, and those were just dismissed blatantly.

Additionally, the letters the letter that these groups wrote that I already read a little passage from, they call for both artifacts to be returned and placed in a special protected place in Guatemala's National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology where they currently reside. The Met also maintains that it was a reciprocal agreement, "and we made proposals ahead of every step to ensure that we are all aligned in our aesthetic approach.

We did that because, ultimately, it's their work and their project." It sounds like there's a huge communication breakdown here between these groups who actually give a shit about these objects and these artworks and their heritage and everything in culture, the Guatemalan government, who I will save my words, and then The Met.

There's a huge weird communication breakdown that's going on. On the bright side though, I guess, it sounds like the restoration work went well. It does sound like it needed a little bit of TLC.

It sounds like the throne was like caked with dust when it arrived, it was also mounted on concrete, and the front legs were actually backwards because of the archaeologists who like discovered it in the 1930s from the University of Pennsylvania. They did a lot of weird things to like preserve it and conserve it, and then they just ended up like messing with it.

So, I always try to look at the bright side even though it's still terrible. It's it's still good, I guess, that this work that these works are being cared for, and taking care of, and removing harmful things, I guess. But it's still absolutely terrible that the Guatemalan government is not listening to its groups, and its peoples, and its communities, and that's just absolutely uncalled for and terrible, and I hate it.

So, you need to listen to the voice of your people, otherwise you are in deep shit.

So, that'll do it for this episode of Buy Amara. Ended on kind of a bum note, so sorry about that, but that's just what's happening in the world. Please like this episode if you liked it, and please make sure you subscribe, whether on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Also, thanks so much to those of you who have actually contributed to my Patreon, I really appreciate it, and you are awesome, and I love you all no matter what, whether you contribute or not, still love you. And I think we'll just end it on that note. So, I'm Amara Andrew, and never stop creating.