iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🧵1/3 - The deepest dive so far into the story of the looted Ethiopian gospel, by Jacopo Gnisci in @theconversation.com theconversation.com/this-18th-ce... Takeaway 1: It is the 2nd of a 2-volume set. The 1st is probably in the Bavarian state library - another piece of the Maqdala plunder...

theconversation.com

This 18th-century Gospel has reignited a fierce battle over Ethiopia’s looted heritage

The controversy highlights a broader, escalating global movement demanding the return of African antiquities.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

🧵1/4 - The story of the looted Ethiopian gospels has moved on, with the dealer pulling them from sale, but standing firm on his right to sell them. (Lily Isaac's article may be behind a paywall for some, but consider subscribing. @ObserverUK is fab.) observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

🧵1/4 - It’s a sign of how much was looted from Ethiopia in 1868 that new treasures keep turning up almost 160 years later. Look at this lavishly illustrated C18th copy of the Gospels of Luke and John, until recently on sale in Abu Dhabi for c €250,000 inlibris.com/item/bn69353/

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Eritrean plunder. Or, possibly, forged Eritrean plunder, made to be bought by suckers like me. Fragment Ancient Adulis Coast of Abyssinia 1868

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

"The loan of the Bayeux Tapestry by France to the British Museum is a good example of creative cultural diplomacy that strengthens ties between friendly states. It also presents an opportunity ..." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

The Bayeux Tapestry loan is a model for the Parthenon Marbles

Burnham has a chance to create a legislative carve-out that speeds the process of returning the artefacts to Greece

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Thank you so much to Kumnei for inviting me to to talk about Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu on her excellent new Kumneger Podcast. A great conversation. We address the key question - should he stay or should he go home. youtu.be/UEmotfUIFP8?...

youtu.be

The Extraordinary Journey of Prince Alemayehu | Andrew Heavens | Kumneger Podcast #ethiopia#habesha

YouTube video by Kumneger Podcast

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Radio 3 plays soft. But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The prettiest plundering scene I ever did see. "Tapestry with a plundering scene, Flanders, late 16th century. In a setting of valleys and woods, a scene of plunder under the watchful eye of Spanish soldiers." Yours for €2,000 - €3,000 www.bonhams.com/auction/3180...

Image of auctioned tapestry with a plundering scene, Flanders, late 16th century. In a setting of valleys and woods, a scene of plunder under the watchful eye of Spanish soldiers.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

For the Beatles completist in your life. #beatles

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

'Battersea Rain Dance' by Chris Barber & His Band Featuring yell by Paul McCartney (copyright Apple Publishing) #realtreasure

Cover of 'Battersea Rain Dance' by Chris Barber & His Band

Detail of back cover of 'Battersea Rain Dance' by Chris Barber & His Band

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Game of Thrones loot for sale. Gold bar used in the Season 7 episode "The Spoils of War", yours for c £400. See how it glisters - www.ewbankauctions.co.uk/280526MP-lot...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

🧵1/10 Lancaster’s Kings Own Royal Regiment Museum has returned a lock of hair taken from the body of Ethiopia’s Emperor Tewodros, and a piece of cloth stained with his blood. A big deal. But the significance goes beyond an act of restitution ... www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/heritage-and...

The hair and cloth back in Ethiopia. Thanks to Alula for the photo.

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plundered art @plunderedart.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Flanders, the wealthiest region of Belgium, establishes a permanent restitution commission for the return of Nazi looted art. It's been long in coming, but it's never too late to do the right thing. Belgium played its role in the Nazi looted art market. www.belganewsagency.eu/flanders-est...

belganewsagency.eu

Flanders establishes commission for restitution of Nazi-looted art

Flanders is establishing a permanent commission for the restitution of Nazi-looted art, the government decided earlier this week, according to the...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

"As Nazi Troops retreated from the town of Darmstadt, Germany, civilians who decided to stay behind, ran wild in an orgy of looting." 3 April 1945 www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) German Civilians Loot Abandoned Trains, Darmstadt, Germany, 3 April 1945
Vintage silver gelatin press print, image size 19 x 14cm, sheet size 20.5 x 15.2cm, with Associated Press and Production Fee stamps verso, and full Associated Press typed caption sheet, with 'White' credit, affixed verso.

"For First Publication Daily Papers of Wednesday April 4. / Passed by Censor No 40/387 / German Civilians Loot Abandoned Trains./ As Nazi Troops retreated from the town of Darmstadt, Germany, civilians who decided to stay behind, ran wild in an orgy of -- looting. Freight trains abandoned by the enemy and stocked with clothing, became a looting ground for German civilians who scrambled over each other in their haste to secure first choice. / Associated Press Photo Shows: The last of the looters search for articles of clothing on the track - littered with discarded wrappings and unwanted -- garments. / WHITE/LP 276984 / 3445 DR/ Special Fees..."

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

This is not loot..."kein Kriegsraubgut"! An icon acquired at the Battle of Smolensk as the Nazis charged into Russia. "This was acquired for a fee and is therefore not war loot," reads the label. So that's alright then. Now you can acquire it for a fee. www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

One of the repeated stories about Britain's 1868 invasion of Ethiopia is that Emperor Tewodros took his own life with a pistol given to him by Queen Victoria. But, as @alulapankhurst.bsky.social says, there were other guns around ... x.com/alulapan/sta...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

More catch-up on Ethiopian plunder. The hairpin of Ethiopia's Queen Terunesh returns home, with the help of the Royal Ethiopian Trust and plunder-watchers including @alulapankhurst.bsky.social x.com/alulapan/sta...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Lots to catch up on in the Ethiopian plunder-sphere. Let's start with a pair of slippers. They have been sitting for decades in the V&A's vaults, "miscatalogued" as Turkish. Now linked to Maqdala and Queen Terunesh by super-researcher Molly Judd. www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-...

vam.ac.uk

Researching the provenance of the V&A’s Ethiopian objects • V&A Blog

The V&A’s collection includes nearly 200 Ethiopian objects – from metalwork and textiles to photography, manuscripts, and paintings. From September to December 2025, I undertook a three-month Doctoral...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The people who should win this year's Nobel Peace Prize - the volunteers running Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms www.ft.com/content/e9fc...

ft.com

Sudan’s grassroots groups — a model in the midst of war

The Emergency Response Rooms are a template for aid delivery elsewhere

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Top five things to take the edge off #BlueMonday 1-The Forkiverse - theforkiverse.com 2-The A Book - A Place podcast by Robin Pomeroy - robinpomeroy.wordpress.com @robinpomeroy.bsky.social 3-The ill-advised podcast with Bill Nighy 4-The reborn Observer 5-The Iron Maiden scene in 28 Years Later

The reborn print edition of The Observer - https://observer.co.uk/

The ill-advised podcast with Bill Nighy - https://www.ill-advisedbybillnighy.com/

The Iron Maiden scene in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

The "A Book - A Place" podcast by Robin Pomeroy - https://robinpomeroy.wordpress.com/

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museo_ghosts @noahangell.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

👀

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

"The British Museum now acknowledges that the Asante Ewer was loot, a term the institution would not have used until recent years. In an 'object in focus' book, just published, the Asante Ewer is acknowledged as 'looted'." Again, Go Ghana www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/12/02/b...

theartnewspaper.com

British Museum's looted ewer set for return to Ghana on long-term loan

The 14th-century, English-made Asante Ewer was seized from the royal palace in Kumasi in 1896 and has been held by the British Museum ever since

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

A beautiful hairpin that belonged to Prince Alemayehu's mother - Empress Tiruwork - is going back to Ethiopia c. 160 years after it was taken by the British military doctor who treated her last illness. Congrats to all involved @alulapankhurst.bsky.social royalethiopiantrust.org/the-return-o...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Stepping back into socials with some real treasure - without a doubt, the greatest album cover ever. Not the greatest album ever, but Sandy Brown's 1957 'McJazz' is notable for including a Scot's best wishes to newly indepedent Africa. With opening track 'Go Ghana' www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ddd...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Father and son! Thank you so much to Mariamawit Y Yeshak for taking Alemayehu, via her copy of 'The Prince and the Plunder', to the statue of his father's great cannon in Addis Ababa. Really moving. Please send in other sightings. #friendsofalemayehu #theprinceandtheplunder #Ethiopia

A copy of the book 'The Prince and the Plunder', about Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu, next to a statue of his father's great cannon in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 'The Prince and the Plunder' is by the owner of this account, Andrew Heavens

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

"We are going to do whatever it takes to take back Africa's belongings. And we're going to do it together!" Relooted, coming soon from South African game developer Nyamakop @nyamakop youtu.be/KgPxPfXb734

youtu.be

Relooted Announcement Trailer

YouTube video by Nyamakop

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

"About 85 per cent of people in immigration custody are held in places run for profit, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), an archive of government data and reports. "ig.ft.com/us-immigration-detention

ig.ft.com

Inside America’s booming immigration detention industry

The enormous US deportation programme is enriching companies as detainees complain of poor treatment

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

We don't need plunder. We have enough treasure of our own. The southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone (pop. 60) near Dover - s645975992.websitehome.co.uk "One of the best late Norman churches in Kent," said John Betjeman.

Detail from the southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone

Detail from the southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone. A rabbit riding a goat?

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

You've heard of the Prince and the Plunder. Meet the Love Guru and the Loot. Lytchett Minster Parish Church, Sunday

Grave of Sir Francis Younghusband, Lytchett Minster Parish Church, Sunday

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Here starts the campaign for Britain to repatriate the plundered acronym "PAC", in fact the whole concept. It belongs in the US of A. "Great British Pac calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Parthenon sculptures or risk legal challenges." www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Screenshot of Guardian article: "Liz Truss and hard-right group accused of scaremongering over Parthenon marbles.
Ex-PM among those saying they will take legal action over ‘covert’ plans to return sculptures to Greece,"

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Thrilled to report that Barbara Blake Hannah - yes *that* Barbara Blake Hannah - has reviewed "The Prince and the Plunder". "So vivid and descriptive that at times I felt I was watching a documentary film, not just reading a book." Thank you! www.theprinceandtheplunder.com/2025/07/02/r...

Cover of "The Prince and the Plunder" by Andrew Heavens

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Ethiopia's 1983-85 famine: the musical.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Latin scholars, please help. I am trying to translate this memorial for Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu in Rugby School chapel. How close has Google Translate got me? Cunning - really? Players or playmates? And are those dates right? They don't match the record.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

The South London Press, where I did my first work experience, just "abruptly" shut down. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/r... The first newspapers to pay me - the @chardandilynews.bsky.social and the @expressandstar.com - are still there, but scaled down. Brave new future a little less shiny this am

pressgazette.co.uk

South London Press closes down after 160 years covering UK capital

Independent local newspaper the South London Press has abruptly closed down after 160 years as it goes into insolvency proceedings.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Bow down to him on Saturday / Salute him now his birthday's come #happybirthday #bobdylan

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Signed photograph of Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy and Albania, Empress of Ethiopia ... briefly Yours for up to 200 Swiss francs ($240) www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

A 1930s anti-fascism poster with 'Abisinia' as the victim. "Envy and Greed have married, and from this vile marriage is born, like a fruit of rot, the law of the strongest ... or the most envious." A historical artefact with nothing to teach us today. www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Very excitingly, the V&A has started taking bookings for its Order an Object scheme. You order things from the museum's vast storerooms - and they bring them out to you! Here are my 5 treasures from Britain's 1868 Abyssinian "expedition". Have a go www.vam.ac.uk/info/order-a...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

"Do cremated ashes classify as human remains? Should there be international trade in religious relics? What, in the words of the fictive archaeologist Indiana Jones, 'belongs in a museum'?" And don't get me started on tabots. www.ft.com/content/489a... via Melanie Gerlis in @financialtimes.com

ft.com

Should holy relics be put up for sale? The market for sacred artefacts is an ethical minefield

Sotheby’s has postponed its sale of gems linked to the remains of the Buddha, in a case that has sparked legal and moral debates

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

"Leo XIV becomes proprietor in trust of the great art and architectural treasures of Vatican City, and will be looked to as a moral authority ... Under (his predecessor) Francis, the papacy made a number of symbolic gestures around ... cultural restitution." www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/08/r...

theartnewspaper.com

Robert Francis Prevost has been elected Pope Leo XIV—why does this matter to the worlds of art and heritage?

The Chicago-born pontiff—the new spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics and the proprietor in trust of the great art and architecture treasures of the Vatican—has publicly supported his predecessor...

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Treasure found while flat-hunting in Lewisham

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Melanie Young @freewheelinmy.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Happy 5th Day of May to all who celebrate. 🎥: Bob Dylan performs “Isis” with the Rolling Thunder Revue in Montréal on December 4, 1975.

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Dr Rebecca Warren @drrjwarren.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

A ray of joy, as ever.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Scotland leads the way again. "Rather than a diminishment of the University's collections," Prof Gillingwater said, the returns "represent an opportunity for the University to work with communities in order to build new relationships and friendships." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Edinburgh University returns indigenous Ainu skulls to Japan

Three skulls donated to the university by a Scottish doctor in 1913 have been returned to Hokkaido.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

"They destroyed our identity, and our history," Ikhlas Abdel Latif Ahmed, director of museums at Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, told the BBC's Newsday programme. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Sudan: How war ravaged museums and priceless artefacts

Sudan's national museum is among the institutions that have been looted and vandalised during the war.

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Happy Birthday to Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu ... and England's William Shakespeare

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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

If I had a spare £1,000... A watercolour up for sale of British troops loading elephants onto a ship in India in 1867/8 before it set off to invade Ethiopia. The elephants carried the artillery there and, unreliable sources say, some of the plunder back. www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

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