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France has returned 26 treasures looted from Benin during the colonial era, fulfilling a promise made by President Emmanuel Macron to recover a lost part of Africa’s heritage.
Benin President Patrice Talon and Culture Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola traveled to Paris 130 years ago to bring home artifacts seized by French forces.
Talon said he felt “tremendous emotion” in recovering objects taken from the clearing of the Kingdom of Dahomey in present-day southern Benin, including the royal throne.
‘This is our soul’
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the presidential palace in Paris, where France signed artifacts from Benin, Talon said the treasures were much more than cultural goods, a term France uses to describe them.
“This is our soul, Mr. President,” he said, alongside Macron.
The French leader praised the “symbolic, moving and historic moment” that Africans have long been waiting for.
The return of the pieces taken from the Royal Palaces in Abomey, which also includes three totemic statues, comes as African countries are calling for the return of colonial prey on museum shelves in Africa.
In France, most have Quai Branly museums, and have begun a major overhaul of their collection to identify works acquired through violence or coercion.
French lawmakers last year approved the return of artifacts from Paris to Benin and Senegal, another former French colony in West Africa.
Talon made it clear that he saw Tuesday’s transfer as the first step in a large-scale return process, and asked “how do you expect my excitement to be overwhelming” when France still had other key things to do.
But he added that he was “sure” that more returns would come. “Beyond this right, we will continue to work,” Macron promised.
Natacha Butler of Al Jazeera, reporting from Paris, said the scenes at the Elysee Palace were moving.
“The President of Benin said it was not just about restoring Benin’s artwork. It was about Benin recovering a part of his soul … This puts an end to a very long process that began a few years ago, ”Butler said.
In the Cotonou capital of Benin, there was great hope for the return of precious work.
“It allows me to see these royal treasures up close, especially the thrones of our ancestors. It’s unbelievable, ”an elder from the Dah Adohouannon community told AFP.
“At 72, I can die in peace, once seen,” the senior added.
The return is part of a push by Macron to improve its country’s image in Africa, especially among young people.
The works were first shown at the Quai Branly before the long journey home.
In Benin, they will be exhibited at various sites, including a former Portuguese fortress in the city of Ouidah, which was once a site for the slave trade, while a museum in Abomey awaits the completion of a museum to store them.
Experts estimate that between 85 and 90 percent of African cultural artifacts were taken from the continent.
Some were kidnapped by colonial administrators, troops or doctors and handed over to their descendants, and at the same time handed over to European museums.
But others were presented as a gift to missionaries or by African art collectors in the twentieth century. they were acquired at the beginning of the twentieth century or found in scientific expeditions.
An expert report commissioned by Macron counted about 90,000 African works in French museums, of which 70,000 were in the Quai Branly alone.
Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have also received requests for the return of lost treasures from African countries.
Nigeria said last month that it had agreed with Germany on hundreds of returns called the Benin Bronze Age, which was stolen from the palace of the former Nigerian Kingdom of Benin in the 16th and 18th centuries. century metal plates and sculptures.
Belgium today announced its intention to return several looted objects from all over the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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