Sámi museum objects returning home – repatriation work with Sámi communities awarded a grant of 850,000 €

Items belonging to the Sámi culture have been collected for European museums and research institutes since the 17th century, and the looting of Sámi graves for research purposes continued into the 20th century. Around 50,000 Sámi objects are still held in museum collections around Europe.

Today, the way museums have historically acquired their collections is being criticised. By what right were items collected and to whom do they belong?

The Sámi Museum Siida has worked towards the repatriation of Sámi cultural material for decades. In 2021, the National Museum of Finland returned more than 2,200 objects from its Sámi collection to Siida, and repatriation processes are currently underway with a number of European museums.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation granted €850,000 to Siida’s three-year project Ellos min árbi! (Long Live Our Cultural Heritage!), which involves studying and developing a Sámi way of processing the repatriation of objects together with the community. The aim is to publish the knowledge and research results gained to benefit other indigenous museums. The project will also result in the travelling exhibition Máhccan – Homecoming, research articles, a guide on best practices, a podcast series and an international conference on repatriation.

Information about the previous owners and historical use of the returned objects will be collected in workshops. These workshops will provide Sámi communities with the opportunity to connect with the objects their ancestors used by reminiscing about and studying them and by giving them new meanings.

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Sámi museum objects returning home – repatriation work with Sámi communities awarded (Directs to Siida - the Sámi Museum website)