British Museums To Return Royal Artifacts To Ghana

The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, together with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana, on Thursday announced the “important cultural’’ collaboration, which sidesteps U.K. laws that prohibit the return of cultural treasures to their countries of origin. Those laws have been used to prevent the British Museum from returning the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, to Greece.

Some 17 items in total are involved in the loan arrangement, including 13 pieces of Asante royal regalia purchased by the V&A at auction in 1874. The items were acquired by the museums after they were looted by British troops during the Anglo-Asante wars of 1873-74 and 1895-96.

“These objects are of cultural, historical and spiritual significance to the Asante people,’’ the museums said in a statement. “They are also indelibly linked to British colonial history in West Africa, with many of them looted from Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante wars of the 19th century.”

The items covered by the loan agreement represent just a fraction of the Asante artifacts held by British museums and private collectors around the world. The British Museum alone says it has 239 items of Asante regalia in its collection.

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Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special adviser to Ghana’s culture minister, said the deal was a “starting point,” given British laws that prohibit the return of cultural artifacts. But ultimately the regalia should be returned to its rightful owners, she told the BBC.

“I’ll give an analogy, if somebody came into your house and ransacked it and stole objects and then kept them in their house, and then a few years later said, ‘You know what, I’ll lend you your objects back,’ how would you feel about that?” she said.

The returning items include a 300-year-old Mponponso sword used in Asantehene swearing-in ceremonies, a gold peace pipe and cast gold soul-washers’ badges, among other treasures.

The artifacts were taken after the third Anglo-Asante War in 1874 and include a total of 32 items, 15 from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria and Albert Museum, which are both in London.

They will be displayed in Kumasi, the seat of the Asantehene kingdom, at the Manhyia Palace Museum for up to six years, the royal palace said.

“Items of gold and silver regalia associated with the Asante royal court will be displayed in Kumasi later this year as part of a long-term loan commitment by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum,” the museums said in a joint statement.

“Many of these items will be seen in Ghana for the first time in 150 years.”

The repatriation coincides with three milestones in the Ashanti kingdom: the 150th anniversary of the 1874 war, the centenary celebration marking the return of one king, Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, from exile after he was banished, and the silver jubilee of the current king, Asantehene Osei Tutu II.

It comes after almost half a century of discussions between Manhyia palace, especially with the British Museum.

Asantehene Osei Tutu II appointed two technical advisors to facilitate the return: Ghanaian historian Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Scottish historian and former vice principal of the University of Glasgow, Malcolm McLeod.

Nigeria is also negotiating the return of thousands of 16th to 18th century metal plaques, sculptures and objects looted from the ancient Kingdom of Benin and currently held in museums and with art collectors across the United States and Europe.

Two years ago, neighboring Benin republic received two dozen treasures and artworks stolen in 1892 by French colonial forces from the capital of the former Kingdom of Dahomey.

The return of the treasures to Ghana comes amid ongoing pressure on Britain from Greece over the Parthenon Marbles.