The Musée du quai Branly—Jacques Chirac in Paris is staging a farewell ceremony for the 26 objects about to be returned to Benin. An exhibition of the statues, thrones and ceremonial hatchets opens for five days only.
The restitution of the African artefacts was promised by the French president during a 2017 tour of West Africa, as a “first symbolic step” for an ambitious “return of African heritage”. Although nothing on this scale has happened in the four years since, the 26 items at the Quai Branly looted by French troops from Abomey’s royal palace in 1892 could be returned as early as this November. A special law had to be passed through parliament last year to make this possible. Both heads of state still have to sign a treaty before the objects' departure...
