The ongoing campaign by African countries for the return of artifacts and art treasures stolen by European colonialists is gaining tractions as France and United Kingdom have started returning some of the treasures to their original owners. With this development, efforts by the Oba of Benin to construct a world class museum that will house the returned treasures is taking shape with the tapping of Dadid Adjaye, globally renowned architect, to design the Museum.
It could be recalled that President Emmanuel Macron of France has championed a top-down approach to the issue of restitution, commissioning a report by the art historians Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy. They delivered their bombshell findings last November, urging restitution where appropriate. And within days, Macron had ordered the Musée Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac in Paris and the French Ministry of Culture, to return 26 works requested by the Republic of without delay. However, there was a snag as the restitution needs to be approved by the French senate. The artifacts, which include a throne looted by French troops, are destined for Benin’s new museum in the city of Abomey, which is due to be built with a €20 million loan from France and to open in 2021.
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Architect David Adjaye, who designed the Ghana pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, is already working on the layout of the new museum that could one day house treasures looted from the African kingdom of Benin during the colonial era. The British architect, who designed the Smithsonian’s critically acclaimed National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been commissioned to undertake a feasibility study for the new Benin Royal Museum in Nigeria.
The Edo state government has commissioned Adjaye Associates and its local partner in Nigeria, Agram Architects, to undertake the feasibility study. Building a new museum would be a major step in repatriating artifacts, such as the Benin bronzes, which were looted by the British army in the late 19th century and then sold to pay for the military campaign. Many ended up in museums across Europe, as well as in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The lion’s share of the trove went to the British Museum in London. Examples were recently acquired by the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
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Benin’s lost treasures are a subject close to the heart of Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents. Adjaye was invited to contribute his ideas for the new museum at the latest meeting of the Benin Dialogue Group, the members of which include representatives from major museums in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Nigeria, and the UK, including the British Museum.
The Benin Dialogue Group members have been discussing the new museum since 2018. At its last meeting Adjaye outlined his vision. The museum would “reunite” the most significant of Benin’s historical artifacts, currently housed in various institutions around the world. This effort will help develop cultural appreciation and also create employment while earning good revenue for Edo State.
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The group pledged to undertake provenance research into their collections and share the results ahead of its next meeting at the British Museum in 2020. However, the legal issue surrounding the repatriation of pieces will probably mean they will be loaned rather than permanently returned. Some critics accuse the group of having a “colonial mindset” because of its stress on their institutions’ legal ownership of the artifacts.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry