28 gold ornaments will be returned to the Ashanti Kingdom next weekend by South Africa

Thursday 21st November 2024 09:37 AM

Ghana's traditional Asante king will receive 28 gold ornaments returned from South Africa this weekend, adding to the growing collection of Asante cultural items returned to the West African country, ex Gold Coast.

These objects, made in the 19th century by artisans of the Asante court, symbolize the governance and royal heritage of this then powerful kingdom, and include linguist's staves, swords, palace security locks, rings, gold necklaces and weights.

They constitute 'masterpieces of goldsmithing reflecting the sophistication of the governance of the Asante court', assured the historian and associate director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Ivor Agyeman-Duah.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II (left), Asante King of Ghana, looks on at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana, February 8, 2024, during the permanent return of artifacts from the Fowler Museum at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). Angeles). On February 8, 2024, a California museum returned seven royal objects to King Asante of Ghana to commemorate his silver jubilee. This is the first restitution of treasures looted during the colonial era. The restitution to Ghana comes amid growing international pressure for European and American museums and institutions to return African artifacts from former colonial powers Britain, France, Germany and Belgium.

The presentation of the objects will take place during a celebration at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, the ancient capital of the Asante Empire. At the beginning of 2024, King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II requested the return of these objects to the South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti which had purchased them in 2000 from a Swiss collector.

The objects will be displayed in a new gallery recently added to the Manhyia Palace Museum, opening in May 2024 and dedicated to the exhibition of traditional Asante objects returned to the country.

The return of these objects to Ghana comes as pressure increases on European and American museums and institutions to return African art objects stolen under the domination of former colonial powers such as Great Britain, France , Germany and Belgium.

This restitution brings to 67 the total number of cultural objects returned to Asante Palace this year, which constitutes the largest repatriation of objects in Africa in recent years. Earlier this year, seven objects looted during the Anglo-Asante War of 1874 were returned by the Fowler Museum at UCLA in Los Angeles, and 32 others were 'on loan for three years, renewable' from the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in the United Kingdom.

'Africa is today taking the initiative of restitutions on its own territory in order to deal with its own colonial heritage,' commented Lekgetho Mokola, researcher at Yale University. “It is possible that the rest of the restitution work beyond our borders will accelerate to give back to the people of this continent what is theirs,” he added.

Nigeria is also negotiating the restitution of thousands of metal objects dating from the 16th to the 18th century, looted from the former Kingdom of Benin and currently held by museums and art collectors in the United States and Europe. In 2021, France returned to Benin 26 objects and works of art stolen in 1892 by colonial forces during the sack of Abomey.