Residents in Benin city Nigeria are celebrating the return of their Bronzes. For them this symbolises reparations for some of the wrongs committed by British troops during the colonial era.
A statue of a cockerel is one priceless artefact soon to be welcomed home, after Jesus College handed it over to a delegation from Nigeria at a ceremony at Cambridge University on Wednesday.
It is one of thousands of metal sculptures and ivory carvings made between the 15th and 19th Centuries and looted by British troops in 1897 from the West African kingdom of Benin, in modern day Nigeria’s Edo state.
With more and more of the stolen artefacts expected back in Nigeria – on Thursday the University of Aberdeen in Scotland will also be returning one of its Bronzes. This will be at the Edo Museum of West African Art – a grand initiative by the governor of Edo state to house all the returned Benin Bronzes.
The Edo state Government say it will not be completed for at least five years – construction on the building, set to be designed by famous British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye, has yet to start.
“I feel happy that the work of my great-grandfather will be coming back to Benin,” says Monday Aigbe, who, like his ancestor, is a sculptor.
He runs a foundry in Benin City, the capital of Edo state, where his craftsmen work quietly on brass statues.
The skilled workers fashion a myriad of shapes out of metal, including busts of the Oba – the title of the traditional king of Benin – as well as statues of animals and carved doors.
They have been making bronzes here for six generations. In the middle of the foundry is a large statue of Mr Aigbe’s great-grandfather. He worked for Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi when the raid took place on the Royal Palace more than 120 years ago.
“It makes me upset because they came, they destroyed the palace, they made my great-grandfather run from the city to the village,” says Mr Aigbe.
The loot was amongst the most valuable African artworks ever made – and was sold or gifted to private collectors and museums around the world.
With more and more of the stolen artefacts expected back in Nigeria – on Thursday the University of Aberdeen in Scotland will also be returning one of its Bronzes – Mr Aigbe plans to take his children to see them when they go on display.
Grand designs
This will be at the Edo Museum of West African Art – a grand initiative by the governor of Edo state to house all the returned Benin Bronzes.
The authorities say it will not be completed for at least five years – construction on the building, set to be designed by famous British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye, has yet to start.
But for Theophilus Umogbai, deputy director and curator of the National Museum Benin, this is no excuse to delay returning the Bronzes.
The artefacts are akin to a library as they tell the history of the kingdom of Benin, he says. “You now have empty shelves. The return of those objects will be like filling those shelves. There’s a lacuna in our history because those objects were taken away.” [BBC]
