St Ninian's Isle Treasure

[islandhopper]

@Arathea:

That's right. For some years the treasure was not shown ... or more correct: a few replicas of major pieces (less than in Lerwick) were on display without any context to the rest of the treasure. That was due to safety concerns about the old museum.

In the new Museum of Scotland I have seen it twice although I'm not sure wheter it is part of the permanent exihibition or not.

[Sudden Stop]

The poll results seem quite conclusive, when does the treasure arrive back here?

[Ghostrider]

^^^ More likely we'll have to send a raiding party to fetch it....

 

Shame the idea wasn't floating a week or two ago, could have sent the entire Jarl Squad to Cannes and gotten them to plunder it as they came hame by....

[BigMouth]

Just heard Tavish say on the wireless that the treasure should be back in its natural surroundings - the museum

[Guest Anonymous]

It's nice to see from the poll results that the Museum of Scotland has added their vote.

[max]

Joost as well the Jarl Squad didna plunder da treasure Ghostrider - BA would have lost it!

[islandhopper]

@Auld Rasmie

... not a real heavy weight it seems ...

 

more seriously:

When I voted in favour for Shetland, then it was mainly for one reason:

I can't see why different areas within one country which offer a comparable style for housing such pieces are treated different. When the new Lewis Museum in Stornoway was opened some years ago by far more "prestigous" and "preciuos" objects (although not in material values) went back to Stornoway than the 17 pieces which returned to Shetland.

 

But again: The whole affair is a very sensible one and some arguments bare unforseable risks as for example the argument "it was found here".

 

Just one neutral example without any emotions relating to the Shetland/Lerwick vs Scotland/Edinburgh complex:

In Berlin we have the world famous Pergamon Altar ...

The Turks want it back, because they say, it was found in Turkey ...

The Greek want it back, because it was actually made by Greeks who lived by chance in now turkish territories ...

Some of my folks say, it's ours because we found it and neither the Turks nor the Greeks didn't know that it exists and where it was.

 

We could easily hack it into three pieces but about 10% of the whole are either in the British Museum or rebuilt into London Houses like Arundle House.

 

Pictish history is of cours a part of Shetland history. One clever chap might bring up the argument that Pictish history and culture is by far more a point of general Scottish history and thus argue that a more central place would be more appropriate (Edinburgh or not, that's not the question).

 

Despite all emotions it might be a deal to say "OK - leave the originals in the South but give us better replicas up to the state of today's art ... and in return and with regard to Jarlshof, Scattness and other places give us back the whole bunch of originals from the Viking times so that we will have a chance to concentrate on Shetland as a Viking Centre".

 

With regard to side effects on tourism etc. and your traditionally strong links with Scandinavia in general and Norway in particular it might be the by far better deal ...

[islandhopper]

... by the way: The entry in the RCAHMS list has the absolutely unsual note that the treasure was donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1965-6.

 

Has anyone an idea "who" donated it and "why" the treasure was donated ... well, the result might be positive or negative with regard to the case ...

[Ghostrider]

^^^ A little digging around reveals that the "ownership" of the treasure was subject to legal argument in the early 60's, the result of which was it was declared "Treasure Trove" and therefor the "property" of the "Crown".

 

Any "donating" then, one would assume at least, was probably not a lot more than a technicality of civil servants dotting "i's" and crossing "t's"....but I could well be wrong.

 

Sooo....it would seem that unless someone got in Charlie's ear while he was here and got him to agree to make a "donation", we're not likely to get far....

[BigMouth]

Again I am on the other side to common wisdom, but I feel that having the treasure here is just an emotional argument. My preference for it being in Scotland is a practical one that opens it up to the maximum population.

 

If we made Shetland into one of the best Viking "centres" for instance in the UK, which do you think people would visit, the one in York or the one in Shetland? York is on a main rail route, very roughly around the centre of the UK mainland.

 

The St Ninians treasure argument ranks alongside the one that says that Shetland should have the revenue from North Sea oil, although I have to admit that this one has much more chance of happening. We have to accept that the major cities have the concentrations of arts and treasures because of the infrastructure in place that gets people to view them.

 

Shetland is not only part of Scotland, but part of Europe too and we never seem to want to look inwards when there are the opportunities to access cash from outside of Shetland for our fine projects.

 

Whilst I wouldn't oppose St. Ninians treasure breing brought here I think that there are far worthier causes to fight for than tourism.

[Pooks]

I see that the Herald has a report on this topic -->

 

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1449598.0.0.php

 

Looks like the politicians are in favour of it being returned to Shetland.

[Fjool]

I think the fact that it's the original treasures is important to Shetland. But I worry about the security risks perhaps if they are too valuable. I've no idea to what scale this would be an issue.

 

It could mean a boost for the tourism; I think perhaps not hugely, but it is hard to make "Come see some replica treasures" so attractive in a brochure.

 

I agree with allowing many people to see them as possible but, a counter-argument to that might be that of all those people who see them in Scotland, as part of a bigger exhibition, few will appreciate what they are seeing. By retaining them close to their source, in a smaller collection, their true value can be appreciated by those who visit.

 

Let the masses have the replica and, in the main, be none the wiser. Save the real thing for those who will genuinely appreciate what they are seeing. If someone is inspired by the replicas and wants to visit Shetland to see them, how much the better.

[BigMouth]

Realistically how many people are going to come to Shetland to see the St Ninian's treasure?

 

Before I moved here I rode my motorbike from Brighton the 620 miles to Inverness. I got on a coach that took me to the ferry and across the Pentland Firth to Orkney for a day trip. I never got to Shetland because of the cost and the fact that people had told me that there was little difference between Shetland and Orkney (when compared to the difference between Sussex and Orkney).

 

I wonder how many other people think the same way. If you want more tourists then you need to encourage them to come using different ways. I have mentioned (a week's) free accommodation before.

[Fjool]

Realistically how many people are going to come to Shetland to see the St Ninian's treasure?

Not many at all; not just for the treasure. But that's not really the point. It's more special for those that do come to Shetland, for whatever reason, to be rewarded with a sight the real treasure. It's part of the whole Shetland thing.

 

You argue that it's about getting as many people to see them as possible, but I disagree. It's about people appreciating what they see, and understanding the environment from which they came.

 

Visitors to the treasure in Scotland will see the real treasures, but only photographs of Shetland and no real feeling or sense of involvement with them. Visitors to the treasures in Shetland will get much more.

[BigMouth]

Yes that's true enough. All visitors to city centre museums get the same effect I suppose. It depends how far they go from the museum to get the effect of the real thing.