The Edo Museum of West African Art in Benin City is being considered as a future home for the returned artifacts.
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Posted inNews
Path Toward Restitution of Benin Bronzes Advances in Germany and UK
Thousands of objects were looted from present-day Nigeria by British troops in a punitive mission in 1897.
Posted inOpinion
A Benin Bronze With Fishy Provenance Goes to Auction
While conversations about historic monuments ignite public debate, a small sculpture which was likely looted heads to auction at Christie’s Paris.
Posted inBooks
Dan Hicks on the Benin Bronzes and Ultraviolence of World Culture Museums
“The Brutish Museums” considers the histories of cruelty that western museums perpetuate when they do not endeavor to return looted colonial artifacts.
Posted inArt
One Museum’s Complicated Attempt to Repatriate a “Benin Bronze”
The RISD Museum has held this Benin bronze head in its collection for 80 years. “No one would have given it up unless under duress,” the curators say. But tracing its provenance and repatriating it is no simple matter.
Posted inNews
Activists Stand Trial for Protest in French Museum Over Plundered Artifacts
Members of a Pan-African group stood trial in Paris on charges of attempted theft for an action staged at the city’s Quai Branly Museum.
Posted inNews
After Years of Repatriation Debates, France’s Benin Restitution Bill Approved
Meanwhile, a new report commissioned by the Dutch culture minister suggests the return of “any cultural objects looted in former Dutch colonies if the source country so requests.”
Posted inNews
Week in Review: Activists and MoMA Clash Over Protest; National Gallery Lays Off Retail Staff
Also, Indigenous petroglyphs in Utah have been defaced with a white supremacist slogan, and more.
Posted inNews
Artists and Cultural Workers Oppose Humboldt Forum Opening, Citing Colonial Ties
The protesters called to redirect government funding of the Humboldt Forum towards cultural decolonization initiatives.
Posted inNews
Protesters Request RISD Museum Return Bronze Sculpture to Nigeria
Students and faculty from the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University held an action today to request a sculpture looted from the Kingdom of Benin be returned. The museum says they have begun conversations with the Nigerian government to return the bronze.
Posted inOpinion
The British Museum Isn’t Doing Enough to Fight Illegal Antiquities Trafficking
While the museum presents its attempt to identify trafficked antiquities as an altruistic enterprise, its policing of the antiquities market also distracts from its historic role in acquiring looted objects.
Posted inArt
At British Museum, a Promising But Flawed Start to Grappling With Colonialism
“Empire and Collecting,” a new self-guided tour, reflects an attempt to help visitors understand the colonial origins of the collection.
