ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book touches the problem of contested ownership of the cultural property, by presenting two historical examples from Europe in which the cultural property was transferred in the form of war booty, but resulted in opposite consequences. The idea that an artefact, especially if it is a sacred one or identity-generating, belongs to a 'source community' dominates many negotiations about the return of cultural property. The UNESCO listing of some cultural elements or achievements as outstanding accomplishments of human kind emphasise the idea that culture can be owned. The term 'cultural property' was adopted in 1954 when the drafters of the Hague Convention of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict were searching for a useful phrase to cover the complex list of the movables and immovables of artistic, historical or archaeological interest defined in it.
