Queen drawn into row over looted treasures
Queen Elizabeth has been caught up in the dispute over the restitution of items looted from Africa after Ethiopia asked for a sacred object to be returned from Westminster Abbey.
The Ethiopian ambassador is seeking the return of a tabot, a kind of tablet that represents the Ark of the Covenant, which was looted during the Battle of Magdala in 1868. Hailemichael Aberra Afework said that the tabot, one of at least 10 tablets taken in 1868, should be given to an Ethiopian Orthodox church.
The abbey, which, as a Royal Peculiar, unlike other Anglican churches and cathedrals, is under the monarch’s jurisdiction, has refused to return the tabot.
It was given to the abbey in the 19th century by Captain George Arbuthnot on his return with the British army and later placed within an altar in the Henry VII Lady Chapel.
The tabot was visible within the altar until 2010 even though the items are considered so sacred by many Christians in Ethiopia that only priests are allowed to look at them.
In 2010 the abbey placed a covering over the tabot and painted over the inscription describing what it was. To retrieve the tabot would require some dismantling of the altar.
‘‘We are urging all those who hold items looted from Ethiopia to return them,’’ Afework said.
A spokeswoman for the abbey said: ‘‘The dean and chapter are very conscious of the sensitivity of the Ethiopian tabot . . . It was for this reason that steps were taken a number of years ago to ensure that the tabot, which is in a very sacred place, was properly covered and could not be seen by anyone.’’ There were ‘‘no plans to change these arrangements’’, she added. –