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  "path": "/news/british-museum-exhibit-wellcome-collection-saved-by-britain",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-15T04:02:16.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "British regiment surrenders bloodstained artefacts of famous Ethiopian emperor",
    "British museum accused of 'rewriting history' after claiming Victorian boys were 'gender-fluid'",
    "British Museum loses top spot as Britain's most popular attraction just months after Union Jack row",
    "Brighton and Hove Museums",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA London museum has willingly given up its exhibits believed to have been saved by being brought to Britain.\n\nThe Wellcome Collection has agreed to relinquish 2,000 documents of spiritual significance to Jainism, a religion with strict adherence to non-violence, known as ahimsa.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe majority of the manuscripts were legally purchased from a Jain temple in the Punjab in 1919.\n\nCurators of the collection have determined the purchase by Sir Henry Wellcome was \"unethical\" because it was detrimental to the Jain sellers.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nOwnership of the manuscripts will be now be transferred to the Institute of Jainology, a UK-based charity which represents the faith.\n\nThey will then be held at a specialist library at the University of Birmingham.\n\nMehool Sanghrajka, managing trustee for the Institute of Jainology, admitted the manuscripts may have benefitted by being brought to Britain.\n\nHe told The Telegraph: \"It's a very Jain way of looking at this, but there are two sides to this.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"On the one hand, there is the ethical question of the acquisition, and the manuscript being bought for far under the market price and so on.\n\n\"But on the other hand, they were taken from a place that suffered greatly during partition, so it's quite possible that they were saved by being brought to Britain.\"\n\nDuring the Indian partition in 1947, many Jain temples were destroyed or abandoned, with the religious community displaced from the Punjab.\n\nDr Adrian Plau. a researcher for the Wellcome Collection, said 1,200 of the 2000 manuscripts were bought from a single temple by an agent of Sir Henry, who was a keen collector of artefacts and texts.\n\n### MUSEUM MADNESS - READ MORE:\n\n\n\n\n  * British regiment surrenders bloodstained artefacts of famous Ethiopian emperor\n  * British museum accused of 'rewriting history' after claiming Victorian boys were 'gender-fluid'\n  * British Museum loses top spot as Britain's most popular attraction just months after Union Jack row\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe added the purchasing agent believed they had secured a good deal as the temple customs were unaware of the value of the collection.\n\nBut now the Wellcome Collection has said this was unacceptable and in breach of its commitment to \"inclusive, collaborative and ethical management of its collections\".\n\nThe collection has faced criticism for its choices before - in 2022, it closed its \"Medicine Man\" exhibition which it said was \"racist, sexist and ableist\".\n\nAnnouncing the closure on social media, the Wellcome Collection said it was asking itself \"What's the point of museums?\", adding the exhibition had \"exoticised, marginalised and exploited\" minority groups such as black people, disabled people, and indigenous people.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe decision to return the artefacts follows a similar move from Brighton and Hove Museums, which will return legally purchased jewellery and accessories to Botswana to \"give them meaning\".\n\nThe Institute of Jainology made no challenge for ownership of the manuscripts, but the deal was signed off during a meeting of the All-Party Parliament Group on Jainism in Westminster.\n\nMr Sanghrajka said the intention was not to right past wrongs, but ensure that all Jains could access the historic artefacts, adding he hoped the handover could be a \"model for others to follow\".\n\nHe added: \"At the end of the day, I don't want to handle a 15th century manuscript: it would fall apart. It is best that they are cared for by specialists. What this was all about was access, and hopefully the community can benefit.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Woke museum willingly gives up exhibits which were 'saved by being brought to Britain'"
}