Meknes – France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on October 8 that his government is preparing to return to Benin 26 works of art looted during colonization.
“At the end of October, the 26 works of art of the Treasure of Abomey will return to their country. They will be the pride of Benin,” Macron wrote on his Twitter account.
The declaration came on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa-France summit in Montpellier, following a round table debate on the restitution of looted works of art to Africa.
The French president said the delivery of the works of art to Benin will take place at a ceremony in the presence of Beninese President, Patrice Talon.
Macron added that “because returning works to Africa is to make its culture accessible to African youth, these returns will also be the pride of France.”
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During the local resistance to French colonial penetration in 1892, the “Treasure of Behanzin” work of art was plundered from the Abomey Palace.
The decision comes after French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist and essayist Felwine Sarr published a Macron-commissioned report laying the groundwork for the repatriation of works of art that were transferred from Sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial period.
Savoy and Sarr identified tens of thousands of works that could be affected by Macron’s apparent determination to return all looted African art work and handicraft.
In October 2020, France repatriated to Morocco around 25,500 rare archaeological artifacts and fossils. The items included 24,459 fossils and archaeological objects, trilobites, teeth, animal skulls and jaws, arrowheads and carved tools, and rock engravings.
