COLECCIONISMO Y EXPOLIO ARQUEOLÓGICO: LOS COMIENZOS DE UNA RELACIÓN PROBLEMÁTICA

Abstract

This paper argues that the connection between political liberalism, lack of professionalism of Archaeology and collecting antiques during the second half of the nineteenth century in Spain, favored the underdevelopment of the expansion of the powers of the State in regulating the archaeological heritage in order to safeguard the right to private property. This questioning of the duty of the State to intervene on a private property in the public interest has been used by those who plunder the archaeological heritage, or benefit from it, since then.