A single issue website has been launched to help focus attention on a long term campaign the Celtic League has been running and in response to a resolution passed at their annual general meeting (AGM) in 2010.
The aim of the website – titled Celtic Treasures – is to focus attention on the
Celtic League campaign to return cultural treasurers to the Celtic countries
from which they were taken. At the 2010 AGM a resolution was passed reiterating “the objective of the Celtic League to have artefacts (such as the Lewis Chessmen and the Chronicles of the Kings Man and the Isles) which were removed from the Celtic countries to be returned to their countries of origin as soon as is practical.” The resolution goes on to urge “the Celtic League to renew an active campaign to achieve this objective and to compile a list of such artefacts.”
The intention is to develop a list of artefacts on the site from the six Celtic
countries that are being held outside of the Celtic county from which they were taken and includes reference to international treaties and agreements and State laws on the topic.
The artefacts that are currently listed on the site cover all six Celtic
countries and it is the intention to keep adding to the list over the coming
months. The artefacts currently listed are:
Alba/Scotland: Lewis Chessmen; William Wallace Passport; Book of Deer
Breizh/Brittany: The bones of Pol Aorelian
Cymru/Wales: Gold Cape of Mold
Éire/Ireland: An Gal Gréine, (Sunburst) banner of Na Fianna Éireann
Kernow/Cornwall: Beunans Meriasek; Prophecy of Ambrosius Merlin concerning the Seven Kings
Mannin/Isle of Man: The Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles
A link to the website can be found below and supporters are asked to contact the Celtic League at one of the addresses below with any information relating to a cultural artefact that is being held outside of the Celtic country it belongs.
The Celtic Treasures website is the third `unofficial’ campaign website to be
set up over the last few years by the League. The two others included `Cornwall Police Watch’, set up after the arrest of four Cornishmen and the Noel Maguire website, which aimed to campaign for the repatriation of prisoner Noel Maguire to Ireland.
Both previous campaigns were successful and it is hoped that `Celtic Treasures’ will follow suit.
Link:
Celtic Treasurers –
https://celticartefacts.yolasite.com/
This article prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary
Celtic League. For follow-up comment or clarification contact:
Tel: 0044 (0)1209315884
M: 0044(0)7787318666
J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
Celtic League
25/01/11