The Department of Research and Repatriation is the newest department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its biggest aim is to research the histories of the objects that have been collected throughout the years in the Met, one of the largest museum collections in the world. Having gathered these objects through ways that are not always ethical or lawful, the Met, and many other museums, have decontextualized, desensitized, and devalued the objects that were, and are, sacred, ritualistic, or highly valued originally. The Department of Research and Repatriation aims to work towards the repatriation of these objects that are unrightfully at a location outside of their homes. The Department challenges the current museological display strategies while releasing the tension of the physical boundaries of the Met.
