France to return treasures from Benin after 129 years

In a decision with possible consequences in museums across Europe, France was displaying 26 objects looted in the colonial era for the last time before sending them back to Benin.

Anthropomorphic wooden sculptures, royal thrones, and sacred altars were looted by the French Army in West Africa in the 19th century.

President Emmanuel Macron suggested that France should now correct past mistakes in a landmark speech in 2017 in which he said he could no longer accept "that much of the cultural heritage of many African countries is in France." His speech started the process for the controversial return of royal treasures obtained during the imperial and colonial eras. The French will get a last glimpse of the objects at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac between October 26 and 31.

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Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot tried to calm concern among European museums and stressed that the initiative "will not create a legal precedent."

A law was passed last year to allow the restitution of the statues to the Republic of Benin, as well as the return of a decorated sword to the Senegal Military Museum.

However, the minister noted that the French government law had been deliberately specific to apply only to the 27 artifacts. "It does not establish any general right to restitution," he said, nor does it "question in any way" the right of French museums to maintain their collections.

However, critics of these initiatives - such as the British Museum in London, immersed for decades in a battle with the Greek government over the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles - argue that it will open the doors to deprive Western museums of their collections. Many are based on objects acquired or stolen during the colonial era. French museums alone have at least 90,000 artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa.

The history of the Treasures of Abomey is as dramatic as their sculpted forms. In November 1892, Colonel Alfred Dodds led an expeditionary French looting force in the kingdom of Danhomè, in the south of what is now Benin. Colonial troops stormed the Palace of Abomey, home of King Behanzin, and took away many royal objects, such as the 26 artifacts that Dodds donated to the Museum of Ethnography at the Trocadero in Paris in the 1890s. Since 2003, the pieces have been in the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.

One hundred and twenty-nine years later, his long trip abroad will finally come to an end.

Speaking at a press conference last week, Benin's Culture Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola described the return of the works as "a historic milestone" and the start of more cooperation between the two countries. The country is funding a museum in Abomey to house the treasures, which will be partially funded by the French government.

The official transfer of the 26 objects was scheduled to be signed on November 9 in Paris with Macron present, with the pieces arriving in Benin a few days later, Abimbola said.

"There was a void created between Benin's historical treasures that is gradually being rebuilt," said Fortune Sossa, president of the African Network of Cultural Journalists.