ROUEN, France (AFP) — The municipal council of the French city of Rouen said it was hopeful Thursday that a preserved Maori head can be returned soon to New Zealand, despite a legal ruling blocking the move.
On Wednesday French Culture Minister Christine Albanel won a court decision suspending the return of the head, on the grounds that due process had not been followed. The court will give a definitive ruling in the next two months.
"While fully respecting the judicial timetable and the public debate that has opened, the city still intends to see this highly symbolic gesture to its conclusion," a statement from Rouen city council said.
Albanel has said she is not opposed in principle to the head's return to New Zealand, but fears a precedent for other foreign items in French collections if correct procedures are not carried out.
According to the minister, Rouen city council has no right to dispose of pieces in the museum, which under the law form part of the national heritage. A scientific committee must first rule before items are removed, she says.
However the council argues that human remains are covered by laws on bioetheics rather than on culture.
The tattooed head of a Maori warrior has been in the Rouen collection since it was donated in 1875.
In the 19th century European explorers regularly sent back artefacts -- including human remains -- from foreign locations.
In 2002 France returned to South Africa the body of Saartjie Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman known as the Hottentot Venus who was paraded in European side-shows 200 years ago because of her large buttocks.
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