Post by Owen on Sept 16, 2020 1:07:41 GMT
1 ~~~ The Long Fight for Restitution ~ Conde Nast Traveler ~~~
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-long-fight-for-restitution ~ 28 August 2020 ~
For decades, African museums have asked for the return of looted items—and they're done waiting.
The vast majority—up to 90 percent—of sub-Saharan Africa’s physical cultural heritage is held outside of Africa. Among these items are the Benin Bronzes, sculptures used for ancestral altars and to validate the accession of the new oba (king), objects from Maqdala that are spiritually important in Northern Ethiopia, stuffed lions from Kenya, sculptures of a fish eagle from Zimbabwe, and statues, manuscripts, masks, thrones, and human remains, plundered from the continent over centuries. In December 2018, amid long-standing discussions about restitution, the Museum of Black Civilizations (MCN) opened in Dakar, Senegal. Documenting the history of the Black world—past, present, and future—was its central project. And its request to the world? That looted, plundered, and stolen African artifacts held in museums off the continent be sent back.
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-long-fight-for-restitution ~ 28 August 2020 ~