France's Ministry of Culture creates two missions to support museum provenance research

In response to Emmanuel Macron's 2017 speech in Ouagadougou and two restitution laws from 2023, the French Ministry of Culture has initiated two missions aimed at researching museum provenance. The Mission de recherche et restitution des biens culturels spoliés (M2RS), which was founded in 2019 under David Zivie’s leadership, concentrates on artworks taken between 1933 and 1945, allocating €220,000 annually for specific cases and €200,000 for regional museums. Meanwhile, the newly established Mission "Provenance," directed by Catherine Chevillot and set to begin in 2024, will tackle issues related to human remains and illegal trafficking, with a budget of €450,000. Both missions provide training and resources, while international collaborations involve the Victoria and Albert Museum's Alexandra Watson-Jones and Germany's German Lost Art Foundation. Chevillot emphasizes that not all research leads to restitution.