France returns 26 artworks looted from Benin 130 years ago

Till now the artefacts have been on display in a museum in Paris, along with other artwork stolen from Africa

French President Emmanuel Macron watches a 19th century royal statue of a half-man half-bird representing Benin's King Ghezo (BELGA/AFP/Getty)

France on Tuesday handed over 26 artefacts that were looted from Benin in Africa, a former French colony in the 19th century.

Benin’s president Patrice Talon and culture minister Jean-Michel Abimbola travelled to Paris and signed an agreement to bring home the artefacts.

The artworks were taken away in 1892 from Benin’s Palaces of Abomey, which is presently a Unesco World Heritage site. However, these are only a part of the 5,000 artefacts that Benin is demanding back from France.

The artworks have been on display in a museum in Paris, alongside thousands of other artefacts taken from Africa.

Mr Talon said he felt an “overwhelming emotion” while receiving the objects.

“You’ll agree with me that the restitution of 26 artworks we are celebrating today is only a step in the ambitious process of equity and of restitution of ... heritage extorted from the territory of the Benin kingdom by France,” Mr Talon said after a signing ceremony at the Elysee Palace.

A woman walks past artworks entitled ‘The throne of King Ghezo’ (left) and ‘The throne of King Glele’ (EPA)

The handover marks an important chapter in Africa’s fight to recover its indigenous artefacts which were stolen by European colonisers.

There are at least 90,000 African art pieces in France, with the Quai Branly Museum in Paris alone being home to 70,000 of them. Reports suggest that 90 per cent of African art is located outside the continent.

The process of returning the artworks taken from the Palaces of Abomey began in 2017 when French president Emmanuel Macron promised the handover. In 2016 Benin demanded France to return its treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey, which included sacred doors from the Royal Palaces of Aboma, totems and other artwork.

A 2018 report commissioned by Mr Macron recommended that French museums return works that were stolen.

The French parliament last year passed a law allowing the country to hand over the artworks to Benin and another former French colony, Senegal.

Mr Macron hailed the “historic moment” as “symbolic and moving” for Africans who have been awaiting the return of their treasures.