BENIN CITY, Nigeria (Reuters) – Two Benin bronzes have been returned on Saturday to a conventional palace in Nigeria, more than a century after they have been pillaged by British troops, elevating hopes that 1000’s more artefacts might lastly be returned to their ancestral residence.
The artefacts, principally in Europe, have been stolen by explorers and colonizers from the as soon as mighty Benin Kingdom, now southwestern Nigeria, and are amongst Africa’s most vital heritage objects. They have been created as early because the sixteenth century onwards, based on the British Museum.
At a vibrant ceremony to mark the return of a cockerel sculpture and head of an Oba or king, spokesman Charles Edosonmwan for the Oba palace in Benin City famous that a few of the bronzes have been stored as far-off as New Zealand, the United States and Japan.
The two artefacts have been handed over to the Nigerian High Commission in October by the University of Aberdeen and Cambridge University’s Jesus College however have but to return to their ancestral residence.
“They are usually not simply artwork however they’re issues that underline the importance of our spirituality,” Edosonmwan stated in an interview on the sidelines of a ceremony attended by conventional leaders.
The return is one other milestone within the years-long battle by African nations to recuperate looted works, as quite a few European establishments are grappling with the cultural legacies of colonialism.
Some 90% of Africa’s cultural heritage is believed to be in Europe, French artwork historians estimate. Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac in Paris alone holds round 70,000 African objects and London’s British Museum tens of 1000’s more.
(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Richard Chang)
