L’archéologie au service des identités nationales : pourquoi faudrait-il détruire les collections de moulages d’art antique?

Following the example of Germany and after 1870s, plaster casts of ancient art are subject to a “cultural transfer” in France and in Italy. This kind of process reflects the birth of archaeology as a science; it is aligned to a specific change in higher education and it allows a nation building / re-building (by referring to Italian and French examples). In addition, the consolidating nation process is based on a cultural mechanism caused by globalization, i.e. “inventing tradition”. The “myth of white Greece” or that of “Romanity” can be taken into account in order to justify the destruction of plaster casts of ancient art.