London, November 1 (BNA): A Scottish university on Thursday handed over to a Nigerian delegation a bronze piece among thousands looted by British forces in 1897, and it is the third European institution in two days to return cultural artifacts to their African homelands. .
The statue represents the head of an oba, or king, of the great kingdom of Benin, located in what is now Nigeria. The bronzes stolen from her royal court are among the most important heritage pieces in Africa, mostly in Europe.
The University of Aberdeen acquired the bronze cape at auction in 1957. After a recent review of its source, which confirmed it was one of the looted items, the university contacted the Nigerian authorities to offer to hand it over.
“Over the past 40 years, the Benin Bronze has become important symbols of injustice,” Professor George Bowen, director and vice-chancellor of the university, said in a statement before the handover ceremony.
“It was not right to keep a piece of great cultural significance that was acquired in such reprehensible conditions.”
Oba of Benin’s current, Iwari II, said the bronze pieces are “imbued with the spirit of the people from whom they were taken,” adding that he hopes the Scottish University’s “noble work” will inspire other institutions to follow suit, Reuters reported.
On Wednesday, Cambridge University College returned another Nigeria from Benin Bronze, while in Paris, the Kwai Branly Museum handed 26 artifacts stolen in 1892 to the Republic of Benin, a former French colony on the border with Nigeria.
The deliveries are the clearest sign yet of the growing momentum towards the return of artifacts that Europeans took from Africa during the colonial period. Germany has agreed to begin returning Benin’s bronzes held in its museums next year.
The proceeds are likely to put pressure on the British Museum in London, which houses by far the largest and most important collection of bronze objects in Benin.
HF