It’s been described as the single largest return to date of the famous Benin antiquities looted by the British military.
Benin bronzes
Posted inFilm
New Documentary Gives a Voice to Benin’s Looted Treasures
Mati Diop’s Dahomey centers on the repatriation of 26 stolen Beninese objects and how it could shape the African country’s future.
Posted inNews
New Online Database Tracks the Whereabouts of the Benin Bronzes
Digital Benin contains data from about 5,246 objects scattered across 131 institutions in 20 countries.
Posted inNews
New UK Law Allows Museums to Return Objects For “Moral” Reasons
The law will apply only in “rare cases,” one expert says, but nevertheless signals a shift from past legal restrictions.
Posted inOpinion
David Frum, “Axis of Evil” Speechwriter, Should Shut Up About Benin Bronzes
Liberal establishment darling David Frum mocks repatriation efforts as a “ritual of self-purification through purgation.”
Posted inNews
UK’s Horniman Museum to Return 72 Benin Artifacts to Nigeria
It is the first national museum in England to agree to restitute looted Benin items, increasing pressure on the British Museum to do the same.
Posted inOpinion
The Risks That Lurk in Europe’s “Scramble for Decolonization”
As the global consensus on restitution passes the tipping point, some skepticism towards these sudden, improbable Damascene conversions towards restitution is probably justified.
Posted inNews
The Smithsonian Will Return 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
Provenance research is still being conducted on the ten remaining bronzes in the collection.
Posted inNews
Glasgow Museums Will Repatriate 17 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
Also slated for return are seven Indian artifacts and 25 Lakota items, some of them seized from the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre.
Posted inOpinion
Where a New African Museum Fits in a Post-colonial World
The question remains: Is an African museum, designed by an African architect, capable of undoing the institutional violence that it has inherited?
Posted inNews
Smithsonian Announces Landmark Decision to Repatriate Benin Bronzes
The institution says it will return most of the 39 artifacts in its collection to Nigeria for eventual display at the Benin City National Museum.
Posted inOpinion
How the Met Museum Justifies Looting
The African Origins exhibition ignores the fact that approximately 160 objects from Benin are held by the museum under ongoing demands for their repatriation.