An official from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has confirmed an object held at National Museums Scotland (NMS) is a sacred Ethiopian Tabot.

The Church official visited the Museum in Edinburgh last month after curators made a preliminary identification of the object held in its collection stores. A spokesperson for NMS told Returning Heritage that following identification, the official provided the Museum with guidance how the sacred object should be stored and kept out of sight.

The Tabot has since been moved to a special locked cabinet with restricted access, the only exception being to priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Its museum record has been updated to ensure no photographs of it are taken or ever published.

The Edinburgh Tabot has never been on public exhibition. It was donated to the Royal Scottish Museum in June 1936 by Emily Sarah Lucy Fitzroy. According to Andrew Heavens' Directory of Maqdala objects, NMS holds other Ethiopian objects, including a cross and goblet, three manuscripts and a scroll, plus three armlets/bracelets that might have been collected from Maqdala in 1868. The Museum is currently undertaking research to understand more about this Tabot’s provenance.

Another Tabot was discovered in the back of a cupboard in a Scottish Episcopal church in Edinburgh in 2001. That Tabot had been gifted to the church by Captain William Arbuthnot (1838-1892) who acquired it while serving on the 1867/68 Abyssinian expedition. It was returned to Ethiopia just a few months after its discovery.

So far, no request for the repatriation of this newly discovered Tabot has been received either from the Ethiopian government or from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. However, NMS has confirmed that should such a request be made, it will be considered in line with procedures introduced in 2021 for the transfer of objects to claimants outside the United Kingdom.

Although National Museum Scotland’s Collections Policy includes a presumption against deaccession and disposal, when objects meet the criteria detailed in procedures for considering requests for the permanent transfer of collection objects, and when the request is supported by the Board of Trustees, NMS will consider repatriation. However, the final decision still requires agreement by the Secretary of State (or the Scottish Minister to whom the power has been devolved) before permanent transfer can take place.

Meanwhile, the investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) into the British Museum’s failure to disclose information regarding its collection of sacred Tabots is attracting significant public interest. It follows the complaint Returning Heritage and the leading human rights law firm Leigh Day made to the ICO.

Global media coverage of this investigation has mushroomed following an article published in The Guardian.

Photo: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh

Courtesy of National Museums Scotland