Statement of Restitution

The Linden-Museum Stuttgart was founded during the colonial era and has in the past contributed to the consolidation of a cultural hierarchy between Europe and the "rest of the world". We actively and self-critically face our past and take the responsibility for the museum's collection holdings very seriously.

We are open to requests for restitution from relatives and representatives of the communities of origin. We share knowledge about collections and their acquisition contexts transparently with the descendants of the societies of origin and with our visitors. We are one of the few ethnological museums in Germany to have created a permanent position for provenance research.

We follow the guidelines of the German Museums Association in dealing with colonial collections, human remains and cultural property.

Restitution requests are examined carefully and promptly together with the claimants. In principle, we advocate restitution within the framework of respectful cooperation. The majority of  Linden Museum's collections are property of the state of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Stuttgart. The museum acts as an important contact vis-à-vis the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, which ultimately decides on restitution together with the City of Stuttgart.

The contact person for restitution enquiries is the director Prof. Dr. Inés de Castro (decastro@remove-this.lindenmuseum.de).